ELENA MARIS, Wired; The Humanities Can't Save Big Tech From Itself
"I’ve been studying nontechnical workers in the tech and media industries for the past several years. Arguments to “bring in” sociocultural experts elide the truth that these roles and workers already exist in the tech industry and, in varied ways, always have. For example, many current UX researchers have advanced degrees in sociology, anthropology, and library and information sciences. And teachers and EDI (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) experts often occupy roles in tech HR departments.
Recently, however, the tech industry is exploring where nontechnical expertise might counter some of the social problems associated with their products. Increasingly, tech companies look to law and philosophy professors to help them through the legal and moral intricacies of platform governance, to activists and critical scholars to help protect marginalized users, and to other specialists to assist with platform challenges like algorithmic oppression, disinformation, community management, user wellness, and digital activism and revolutions. These data-driven industries are trying hard to augment their technical know-how and troves of data with social, cultural, and ethical expertise, or what I often refer to as “soft” data.
But you can add all of the soft data workers you want and little will change unless the industry values that kind of data and expertise. In fact, many academics, policy wonks, and other sociocultural experts in the AI and tech ethics space are noticing a disturbing trend of tech companies seeking their expertise and then disregarding it in favor of more technical work and workers...
Finally, though the librarian profession is often cited as one that might save Big Tech from its disinformation dilemmas, some in LIS (Library and Information Science) argue they collectively have a long way to go before they’re up to the task. Safiya Noble noted the profession’s (just over 83% white) “colorblind” ideology and sometimes troubling commitment to neutrality. This commitment, the book Knowledge Justice explains, leads to many librarians believing, “Since we serve everyone, we must allow materials, ideas, and values from everyone.” In other words, librarians often defend allowing racist, transphobic, and other harmful information to stand alongside other materials by saying they must entertain “all sides” and allow people to find their way to the “best” information. This is the exact same error platforms often make in allowing disinformation and abhorrent content to flourish online."
