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Interrogating Our Ways of Knowing
a media examination
What does this mean?
Imagine you are looking to find information about a certain subject. Maybe someone mentioned environmental racism, and you want to learn more about it. Or maybe you are looking for a new bag to buy. After typing your request into Google, you would expect to see a unbiased representation of the best matches for your search. However, you instead will be faced with ads based on your user profile, and information that reinforces your current point of view.
The optimization of technology perpetuates marginalization in communities by reinforcing imperialistic and colonialistic structures. This can be seen specifically in our media landscape that is shaped by biased search engines, large language models, algorithms, social media, and a larger culture of commodity. Within this examination, we will examine the societal concept of The Other, how this is then merged with digital landscapes, and its societal influence.
Be More Specific.
A breakdown of ways to recognize and eliminate bias and information hierarchies.
Reestablish Education
Acknowledge our painful and expansive histories of colonialism, imperialism, and discrimination.
Fix existing inequities within information
Reexamine the different structures that exist within current information structures and hold implementors accountable.
Build antiracist technologies
that address and improve the current marginalization and its origins
Impacts on Education
The standard of Western Education has Hijacked Traditional (or Other) Ways of Knowing
Western education systems often prioritize certain forms of knowledge, pedagogical methods, and cultural perspectives.
This prioritization sidelines or marginalizes alternative ways of understanding the world. This dominance often leads to a hegemonic influence, where the worldview, values, and methodologies associated with Western education become the norm, at the expense of indigenous or traditional knowledge systems.
Western Ideals of Education emphasize:
- standardized testing
- Eurocentric curricula
- linear modes of thinking
All which undervalue the rich tapestry of epistemologies found in various non-Western cultures. This dynamic can perpetuate a hierarchy of knowledge, hindering the integration and appreciation of diverse ways of knowing and contributing to the erasure of cultural identities.
How Chat-GPT reinforces racism, discrimination, and marginalization
Chat-GPT (among other popular AI’s) is a large language model. Essentially, this means it is fancy auto-correct. It cannot learn, rather, it uses existing data to make a statistical guess based on trends, called Machine Learning.
This leads to a big issue. Who decides what data it is trained on? Right now, it is largely based on the internet. We all know the internet isn’t the most friendly place. It is home to homophobia, racism, xenophobia, etc. All of these biases are being transposed to Chat-GPT.
Those who are charged with producing these products need to consider their complatency in reinforcing preexisitng systems of power through their technologies, and examine ways to continue the development of technology without reinforcing these patterns.
This is really cool, but I don’t know where to go from here.
Super common feeling. Here’s how you can continue to engage with these ideas.
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✢ Ways you can combat the digital and communital marginalization of people. ✢
What Can
I do?
1
be aware of the information you are consume
Practice critical literacy in the information you consume and engage with.
Ask if it is reliable, trustworthy, biased, etc. Consider potential sources of bias, and how might the resource be influenced by larger systems of power.
2
ask questions
Engage with continuing education. Seek information that challenges your current perception of the world, engage with information that may be initially uncomfortable.
How do you begin to untangle bias within education? Listen to this NPR podcast on the bias of education within science, and what three teachers are doing to combat it.
Beginning to learn more
"Algorithms of Oppression" by Safiya Umoja Noble examines how search engines, particularly Google, can perpetuate societal biases and inequalities.
The book highlights instances where algorithms contribute to the marginalization of certain communities, emphasizing the consequences for democracy, information access, and social justice. Noble calls for increased transparency and ethical considerations in algorithm design to address discriminatory practices."
WE CAN DO HARD THINGS:
ROXANE GAY
Roxane Gay, a writer, professor, editor, and social commentator, speaks with hosts Glennon, Abby and Amanda regarding the landscape of the internet and our relationship with it.
Gay is the author of The New York Times best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist, the memoir Hunger, as well as the novel An Untamed State, the short story collection Ayiti, and Difficult Women.
Within this podcast, they examine social constructs and the ways our relationships with others is impacted by an “online world that demands perfection”.
ep 260. Should we quit social Media?
