Synthesis Report

 Erikka Moore

Digital Diversity

Professor Earle

16 December 2021

Synthesis Report

We are human and as humans, we are not perfect. We have experiences that alter our thought processes and change our views on the world, this can be consciously or unconsciously. How can we keep this from affecting others in a bad way? An important aspect of today's world is technology. We can use technology for a vast amount of purposes. Understanding the design and working toward making it better is the goal. I believe that part of that is improving the way it relates to all sorts of people and not allowing bias to interfere with the results. As a designer of any sort, it is our responsibility to create content with diversity, inclusion, and neutrality in mind.  

We live in a world where people are more in tune with bias than ever before there is a huge focus on injustice, racism, and inequality. In design, it's imperative that these factors are taken into account in every design to ensure inclusivity. Too often it's forgotten and the design suffers because of it. In “Race After Technology”, Benjamin Ruha quotes Mark Zuckerberg who says, “the theory of the mind … How do we model - in machines - what human users are interested in and are going to do?” He then goes on to question “for us is there only one theory of the mind, and whose mind is it modeled on?” in essence, he is suggesting that even machines that are designed to be unbiased and neutral could have some underlying bias attached since it was designed by a human who would have some unconscious bias (Ruha 35).

In Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble, she discusses racism within search engines. She discusses the outcomes of certain searched within an internet search engine and shows that even vague searches will bring up results that are not only not necessarily what the searcher is looking for but also material that would be considered offensive to specific people for example she searched the terms black girls on google and the results that came up were mostly pornographic content(Noble 68). This issue with search engines could be caused by unconscious bias in the code like Ruha said but more likely this is an issue resulting from the users of the search engine. Google tracks what people search and bring up results based on the most popular results. The effects on the search engine by the different searches are still a result of human bias.

While Ruha and Noble both have the idea that technology can't be neutral and unbiased because of the human element in the design there is still hope for an unbiased future. In “Relationships, Not Records Digital Heritage and the Ethics of Sharing Indigenous Knowledge Online” Kimberly Christen suggests steps to help with the issue of biased design “Taken together, these steps comprise an ETHICS (Engage, Talk, Help, Invest, Create, Support) for archival practices. Choosing to follow this path will not guarantee success, but ETHICS does set a framework for respectful digital archiving projects that create not just records, but relationships.”(Christen 411) Similarly in the TED talk “Decolonization is for Everyone” by Nikki Sanchez her idea is that what has happened is not our fault but it is our responsibility (Sanchez). The point of it is to stop feeling bad about poorly designed technology and do what it takes to make the changes necessary for a better future in design whatever that may entail.

As designers, we need to take responsibility and work with others with the same goals to create and design products and technology that will stand the test of time. It needs to be inclusive in design and allow for anyone and everyone accessibility. It needs to produce results that are unbiased in nature and give all people equal opportunity. It also needs to allow for the growth of people and understand that the world changes minute by minute. Steps that need to be taken to help fix this issue are working toward working with a more diverse design team to create instead of single projects or design teams that lack minority representation. We can also work towards having more training for designers so that they are aware of the issues that we are struggling to incorporate into designs. The more knowledge we have on an issue the easier it is to find a solution to the problem. And lastly, we can keep our minds open so that when new issues arise we can help fix them before they become large problems in our society.

Benjamin, Ruha. Race after Technology Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code. Polity, 2020.

Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York University Press, 2018.

TEDxTalks, director. YouTube, YouTube, 12 Mar. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP9x1NnCWNY. Accessed 17 Dec. 2021. 

Christen, Kimberly. Relationships Not Records

https://www.kimchristen.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/41christenKimberly.pdf

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