Algorithms aren’t perfect, and scholars have been criticizing them for being too broad or biased to be relied upon as much as we do today. Cathy O’Neill mentions that algorithms can be described as “Opinions imbedded in math”. 1 Due to this, opinions that are different to the one who wrote the algorithm or control the algorithm can be snuffed out and ignored. Some scholars have suggested that we push for understanding how the powers that control the algorithms work. This way, we as consumers can avoid using Google, and other search engines in a way that promote these racially or sexually motivated search terms, as mentioned in Noble’s paper on the subject. 2
In the 1930s, society was undergoing intense societal change due to the Great Depression, and because of this feminism and in general the whole popular front became popular. The popular front was made up of radicals that can range from communists to people advocating for racial desegregation. Some folk singers, such as Woody Guthrie were associated with the communists, and it’s reflected in their songs.
Feminists were also a part of the popular front, and they had their own impact on society back then. Due to the lack of money, women began to work for themselves instead of relying on their men for money. This in turn began to change the way society saw certain professions and allowed women to become more independent. Later, when the US joined WWII, women in the industrial sector became much more common, which shows that during this time, women working in clothing factories and farms changed the way America saw working class women.
There can be connections drawn between the WPA-era activists and modern activists in a couple of ways. For one, both activists are fighting for racial and sexual equalities in the US using art to express their ideas. Woody Guthrie is a great inspiration to many later artists that fight for civil liberties. Feminists are also still fighting today, what they had to fight in the 1930s. Gender norms are being changed, and workplaces are being filled with women, rather than just men. Women are no longer just stay at home moms, but rather they create their own businesses and careers, which seems to be a logical progression from what the feminists fought for back in the 1930s.
