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Hi, my name is Safiya Umoja Noble,[br]and I'm an assistant professor

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in the Annenberg School [br]of Communication and Journalism.

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My research looks at racist[br]and sexist algorithmic bias

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and the way in which people[br]are marginalized and oppressed

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by digital media platforms.

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I spent 15 years in corporate[br]marketing and advertising,

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working for some of [br]the largest <i>Fortune</i> 100 brands

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in the United States.

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We were starting to redirect[br]significant portions

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of our advertising media [br]buying dollars online

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and thinking about, in fact, [br]how to game <i>Google</i> search

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and <i>Yahoo!</i> to elevate the brands[br]and amplify the messages.

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And so at the moment that[br]I was leaving corporate America

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and moving into academia,[br]the public was increasingly

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falling in love with <i>Google</i>.

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And this lead me to thinking[br]that this was a space and a place

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that needed to be looked at more closely.

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It was interesting to see[br]this total diversion

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of public goods,

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public knowledge,

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and libraries being shifted into

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a corporate, privately-held company.

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When we go to places like <i>Google</i> search,

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the public generally thinks[br]that what they'll find there

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will be credible and fairly representing[br]different kinds of ideas, people,

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and spheres of knowledge.

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And so this is what really prompted[br]a 6 year inquiry into this phenomenon

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of thinking about misrepresentation[br]on the internet, particularly

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when people are using search engines,[br]and that culminated in my new book,

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<i>Algorithms of Oppression:[br]How Search Engines Reinforce Racism</i>.

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<i>People think of algorithms [br]as simply a mathematical formulation.</i>

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<i>But in fact algorithms [br]are really about automated decisions.</i>

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In 2009, I was kind of joking around,[br]in fact, with a colleague,

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and I was telling him[br]that I was really interested

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in what's happening with <i>Google</i>.

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And just kind of offhand he said to me,

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"Oh yeah, you should see what happens[br]when you <i>google</i> 'Black girls'."

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Of course I immediately did the search,[br]found that pornography was the primary way

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that Black girls, Latina girls, [br]Asian girls were represented.

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That started a whole [br]deeper line of inquiry

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about the way in which [br]misrepresentation happens

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for women of color on the internet

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and what some of the broader [br]social consequences of that are.

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In my work, I look at the way[br]that these platforms are designed

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to amplify certain voices[br]and silence other voices.

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How does that come about?

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What is that phenomena about?

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What's the role of capital[br]or advertising dollars

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in driving certain results[br]to the first page?

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What do the results mean[br]in kind of a broader social,

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historical, economic context?

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So I contextualize the results[br]that I find to show

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how incredibly problematic this is[br]because it further marginalizes

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people who are already living in a margin,

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people who are already suffering[br]from systemic oppression,

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and yet again, these results [br]show up in these platforms

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as if they are credible, fair, [br]objective, neutral ideas.

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In the end, I call for alternatives.

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And I argue strongly that we need

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to have things like public interest search

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that are not driven by commercial biases.

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And I put out some ideas about[br]what it means to imagine

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and create alternatives[br]in our public information sphere

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that are based on [br]a different set of ethics.

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If anything, I think that this book[br]is the kind of book that will help us

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re-frame the idea that, [br]"We should just <i>google</i> it"

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and everything will be fine.

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