Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech - Hardcover

Wachter-Boettcher, Sara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393634639 ISBN 13: 9780393634631

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017

Synopsis

A revealing look at how tech industry bias and blind spots get baked into digital products―and harm us all.

Buying groceries, tracking our health, finding a date: whatever we want to do, odds are that we can now do it online. But few of us ask why all these digital products are designed the way they are. It’s time we change that. Many of the services we rely on are full of oversights, biases, and downright ethical nightmares: Chatbots that harass women. Signup forms that fail anyone who’s not straight. Social media sites that send peppy messages about dead relatives. Algorithms that put more black people behind bars.

Sara Wachter-Boettcher takes an unflinching look at the values, processes, and assumptions that lead to these and other problems. Technically Wrong demystifies the tech industry, leaving those of us on the other side of the screen better prepared to make informed choices about the services we use―and demand more from the companies behind them.

About this title

About the Author

Sara Wachter-Boettcher runs Rare Union, a consultancy based in Philadelphia, and is the author of Technically Wrong, Design for Real Life, with Eric Meyer, and Content Everywhere. She helps organizations with digital product and content strategy, and speaks at conferences worldwide.

Reviews

Those with hyphenated names often encounter difficulty when filling out online forms, and there's usually no option in the drop-down menus for those who are multiracial. Social networks show us the year in review with jaunty music and animation, without acknowledging that some of our most popular posts may be about tragic events we don't want to remember. In straightforward prose, Wachter-Boettcher lays out a convincing and damning argument about the small daily failures and large systemic issues that stem from Silicon Valley's diversity problem. With plenty of examples and studies, she illustrates how systems are designed to be used by people like the creator—usually privileged cisgender heterosexual white men. Anyone else is seen as an "edge case" and not worth worrying about. Along the way Wachter-Boettcher thoroughly deconstructs many of the excuses offered for technology's lack of inclusivity, including the pipeline issue (or the idea that outside of white male demographics there isn't enough talent) and the concept that an algorithm can be neutral. VERDICT This engrossing volume is important for readers of all ages, especially the next generation of developers.—Jennifer Rothschild, Arlington Public Library, VA

Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393634639
• ISBN 13: 9780393634631
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240