Algorithmic criticism is the process of people realizing that algorithms, specifically those of popular search engines have specific biases based on those who created these algorithms. Cathy O’Neil, in her video The Truth About Algorithms states,”To build an algorithm we need only two things; a historical data set and a definition of success.” 1 We can see how this presents a problem when the people creating the algorithms have a different definition of success than their audience. Scholars in this field have suggested that the majority of the people creating these algorithms come from similar social and economic backgrounds which influence these search results and in turn influence the people using the search engines. To combat this people not only need to diversify the field that is programming these algorithms, but become less reliant on immediate search results. These algorithms are not only biased towards socio-economic means but also fall into the hands of advertisements and properties that provide the greatest profits for the people creating these search engines. Becoming technologically aware of the bias of these search engines and not taking the first page of google as solid fact will be a huge step in combating biased algorithmic programming. This problem can be related to the 1930s and the feminist and popular front movements which sought to combat bias in American social perspectives towards women and people of color. The members of these organizations in the past strove to change the American mentality and to prove that women and people of color were just as deserving of voting rights and equal pay. These issues are resurfacing today in algorithmic bias. Safiya Noble writes in her book Algorithms of Oppression, “…Content is already being screened and assessed according to a continuum of values that largely reflect U.S.-based social norms, and these norms reflect a number of racist and stereotypical ideas that make screening racism and sexism and the abuse of humans in racialized ways ‘in’ and perfectly acceptable, while other ideas such as the abuse of animals (which is also unacceptable) are ‘out’ and screened or blocked from view.” 2 She points out that we are facing a new era of racial and sexual based discrimination that is determined by a certain class of people and allowing it to influence American social norms, the WPA activists of the 1930s thought that they had won the battle but it is simply resurfacing in a new way.
Author: Nathan Brostoff
Blog Post #3/ Skill assignment #3
http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/items/show/173
http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/nathan-brostoff-milk-for-the-n
For my image I selected a poster for a welfare program in New York City that was published some time between 1936 and 1939. I chose this image because it popped out at me when scrolling through photographs from the Federal Art Project as something that could really emphasize the struggles that many Americans were going through during the Great Depression. The dominating milk bottle immediately grabs the viewer’s attention who then reads, “Give to the needy, join the Mayor’s welfare fund!” while at the bottom it advertises a play that will be put on at the Laurel Theater. This suggests that there were people wealthy enough in New York at the time to spend money on leisure activities but they weren’t as willing to donate to those in need. Welfare programs such as this one not only gave aid to the needy but allowed the government to employ artists through the Works Progress Administration, Morris Dickstein writes in his article, Facing the Music, ” The government projects were serious and instructive but also uplifting and, significantly, they provided an economic stimulus in the form of jobs for artists.” 3 This poster made me wonder why certain members of society had to be coerced into helping the needy, they were more willing to spend money on a show than going out to buy milk for a starving child. I believe this question is partially answered by Morris Dickstein’s article in the Los Angeles Times How song, dance and movies bailed us out of the Depression ” The most durable cliche about the arts in the 1930s is that despite the surge of social consciousness among writers, photographers and painters (some of it supported by federal dollars), the arts offered Depression audiences little more than fluffy escapism, which was just what they needed.” 4 But I don’t believe that is the whole story. These methods helped me analyze this poster in pieces, taking each part of the poster to have its own meaning and purpose, contributing to the whole product. When viewed this way I was able to get a deeper understanding for the meaning behind its creation. I was able to delve deeper into my historical thinking and not just see this poster as a way to persuade people with money to help the poor, but as a method for their own healing as well as making sure the arts didn’t die in America.
