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Reviews
More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech by Meredith Broussard
authorisasauthordoes's review
challenging
informative
tense
slow-paced
2.75
Interesting topic, but somewhat dense to read for a shorter nonfiction book. The best parts were anecdotes, rather than discussing cut-and-dry data -- her writing style didn't work with the latter quite as well to keep it engaging.
faith1only's review
4.0
4 stars
This book is an extremely important book for anyone working in medical, technology, and similar fields. The author supports her arguments with research and statistics that show how modern technology has reinforced inequality from bias in forms of facial recognition, education, predictive policing, and even in our health care system.
It is important to note that technology is NOT the solution to the bias in society faced by marginalized groups- computers can only predict what we feed them. And as American society is inextricably racist scientists need to communicate with social and humanities experts when it comes to inventing technologies that have real effects on the lives and socioeconomic aspects of our world. if we ignore the intersectionality and nuances of society, technology can lead to more oppression, not liberation.
This book is an extremely important book for anyone working in medical, technology, and similar fields. The author supports her arguments with research and statistics that show how modern technology has reinforced inequality from bias in forms of facial recognition, education, predictive policing, and even in our health care system.
It is important to note that technology is NOT the solution to the bias in society faced by marginalized groups- computers can only predict what we feed them. And as American society is inextricably racist scientists need to communicate with social and humanities experts when it comes to inventing technologies that have real effects on the lives and socioeconomic aspects of our world. if we ignore the intersectionality and nuances of society, technology can lead to more oppression, not liberation.
matt_zimo's review
5.0
A fantastic, readable overview of the social harms that are propagated algorithmically.
serenity_'s review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A wonderful addition to the tech justice canon.
The book starts with an introduction to machine learning and social issues, making it an accessible entry point to thinking about tech justice. However, the audience for this book encompasses both beginners and people who have a background in technology and AI ethics.
In the introduction, Broussard defines the concept of technochauvinism.
The book starts with an introduction to machine learning and social issues, making it an accessible entry point to thinking about tech justice. However, the audience for this book encompasses both beginners and people who have a background in technology and AI ethics.
In the introduction, Broussard defines the concept of technochauvinism.
"Technochauvinism is a kind of bias that considers computational solutions to be superior to all other solutions."
For most of the middle of the book, she takes multiple deep dives into contemporary situations and examines the role that technochauvinism plays in creating and exacerbating the problem at hand. The book focuses on facial recognition, predictive policing, algorithmic grades, video remote interpreting, coding gender in databases, race "corrections" in medicine, and AI cancer detectors. The final section of the book explores some ways to combat technochauvinism, how to hold algorithms accountable, and when to put the algorithms aside and let humans make the decisions.
I really enjoyed the way that this book was structured. Every chapter focused on a different way that technology and algorithms interact with race, gender, and ability, through case studies of specific people's experiences. More Than A Glitch stuck a perfect balance of being informative about the technical/algorithmic problems while understanding the real impacts those technologies/algorithms have on people. I didn't want to put the book down as I was equally interested in learning about the topics and invested in the people and their outcomes.
I really enjoyed the way that this book was structured. Every chapter focused on a different way that technology and algorithms interact with race, gender, and ability, through case studies of specific people's experiences. More Than A Glitch stuck a perfect balance of being informative about the technical/algorithmic problems while understanding the real impacts those technologies/algorithms have on people. I didn't want to put the book down as I was equally interested in learning about the topics and invested in the people and their outcomes.
luckykosmos's review
4.5
Loved how Broussard handled the case studies and centered her points in real world issues, plus her personal exploration of AI in medicine using her own cancer.