I am a professor of International Communication at Tel Aviv University. I am fascinated by the complex relationship between information and power. In my studies I often use cross-national comparisons to understand how information helps us to develop identities and cultures. I am also very interested in technology: What are the latest technological developments? How do people use them to gain power? What are the consequences of technology use on our lives? In my books, I try to share this passion with the readers and address these questions with the hope of making our world a more equal and peaceful place.
As promised by its title, this book indeed reveals the DNA of big tech companies. I learned about the strategies that helped them to rise to power and transform our economic and social landscape. It unveils their sophisticated manipulations that affect every aspect of our daily life. Reading this book changed the way I think about tech companies ever since!
For all that's been written about the Four over the last two decades, no one has captured their power and staggering success as insightfully as Scott Galloway.
Instead of buying the myths these compa nies broadcast, Galloway asks fundamental questions. How did the Four infiltrate our lives so completely that they're almost impossible to avoid (or boycott)? Why does the stock market forgive them for sins that would destroy other firms? And as they race to become the world's first trillion-dollar company, can anyone chal lenge them?
This book focuses on the story of the rise of Google. Reading it helped me realize how massive its influence is on our lives in every possible way.
One concept that particularly captured my attention was the “Database of Intentions.” By searching in Google, we feed its algorithms with our identity, wishes, and desires. Eventually, the algorithm is designed to predict or even tell us who we are and what we would like. Although it was written in 2006, the recent rise of AI technologies makes those claims relevant more than ever before.
The rise of Google is one of the most amazing stories of our time. Jumping into the search industry long after Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos, and other competitors, Google offered a radical new approach to search, redefined the idea of viral marketing, and in just seven years became the largest IPO in the history of Silicon Valley. Google's enormous impact straddles the worlds of technology, marketing, finance, media, culture, dating, job-hunting, and just about every other sphere of human interest. And no one is better qualified to explain this entire phenomenon than John Battelle, the acclaimed Silicon Valley journalist who co-founded…
This book is one of the first comprehensive accounts of the ways that code and algorithm design have transformed our society. While reading this book, I also learned about the complex legal battle in which large corporations push forward their commercial interests through their code.
Using copyright laws and with the support of governments, big tech companies have successfully managed to dominate our social and cultural spheres, making it more difficult for smaller companies and individual users to raise their unique voices. What I also like about this book is that it offers practical solutions and directions to fight back and make this world more equal.
An exciting examination of the core values of cyberspace - intellectual property, free speech, and privacy - from one of Americas most brilliant young legal theorists. . How should we regulate cyberspace? Can we? Its a cherished belief of techies and net denizens everywhere that cyberspace is fundamentally, unalterably impossible to regulate. Thus the legendary freedom of the Net. Lawrence Lessig warns that, if were not careful, well wake up one day to discover that the character of cyberspace has changed out from under us. Commercial forces will dictate the change, and architecture - the very structure of cyberspace itself…
People often believe that algorithms are neutral. This book does a wonderful job of showing that this is a wrong belief. Through numerous examples it reveals how algorithms perpetuate and sometimes intensify racial and gender stereotypes.
I found this book to be very thought-provoking, particularly when it comes to the power of algorithms to deepen social inequalities. It presents a major problem that we increasingly face today, as people rely on AI algorithms, but it also offers some possible remedies through education and legislation.
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
Run a Google search for "black girls"-what will you find? "Big Booty" and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in "white girls," the results are radically different. The suggested porn sites and un-moderated discussions about "why black women are so sassy" or "why black women are so angry" presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society.
In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search…
I like this book because it offers a systematic account of the ways search engines affect our lives. From the way we organize our thoughts using search engines, through the economic sphere and the markets sphere to the political sphere, it analyzes in simple language various examples of how our lives have changed once search engines were introduced and become part of our daily lives.
Search engines have become a key part of our everyday lives. Yet there is growing concern with how algorithms, which run just beneath the surface of our interactions online, are affecting society. This timely new edition of Search Engine Society enlightens readers on the forms of bias that algorithms introduce into our knowledge and social spaces, drawing on recent changes to technology, industries, policies, and research. It provides an introduction to the social place of the search engine and addresses crucial questions such as:
How have search engines changed the way we organize our thoughts about the world, and how…
This book explores the tremendous social impact of Google on our society. While Google claims to “democratize the web”, the book shows that it actually does the opposite. By analyzing the content presented in Google search, Google News and Google Earth, it reveals how Google promotes greater social inequalities based on its algorithm, where richer companies and US-friendly states become even more powerful and dominant.
The book also offers a broad historical perspective on the relationship between information and power. It discusses the rise of commercial search engines, and how they become dominant advertisement machines but also our own personal advisors. This process, which is described through the tension between popular and personal information, is the driving force behind our economy and politics today.
