Book Bytes: Technically Wrong

Another Perfect Gateway book to understanding responsible tech, and how easily tech can go wrong - even when you don't intend it to.

Technically Wrong

This week, I want to talk about the second book that I read in tech ethics - Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech by Sara Wachter-Boettcher. The book covers the everyday examples, that we don't even think about, how they are sexist, biased, anti-LGBT without even trying. 

The most eye-opening example for me was Chapter 4 - Select One. The entire chapter focuses on forms. Particularly, it talked about how forms can be problematic. Wachter-Boettcher uses race as an example of something that's not nearly as clear as a form would make it seem to be. For example, if someone has a Latino parent, and a black parent - which option do they select? She makes a similar point regarding sexuality. It's also not nearly as clear as the form made it out to be. 

As I was reading this section, I thought of my experience with homosexuality being listed as a medical condition, instead of a demographic. Once I started noticing it, I couldn't stop noticing it everywhere. It had the benefit of making me aware of it and also helped me not repeat the same mistakes in my own products. 

She talks about the de facto development mentality of "run fast and break stuff," and how that results in so many problems in technology, and spends a lot of time talking about Twitter as an example (and I'd love to know what she thinks of Twitter today). 

There's also a chapter on Algorithmic Inequality, which has a bit of overlap with Data Feminism. But you'll notice as you read more than the same big-story use cases get used a lot, and that each person's perspective adds something to your understanding of them. 

Technically Wrong is one of those books I come back to all the time. As someone who set out to learn as much as I could about ethical tech, Wachter-Boettcher's work was foundational to my learning so much in the future. 

Check it out on Amazon, and let me know what you think! 

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