Just read “Weapons of Math Destruction”

I’ve been talking a lot about data in my classes, but this book, by Cathy O’Neil (aka Mathbabe), has made me rethink a lot of things, including how data can be used to keep the wealth and income gap firmly in place. Here’s one fer-instance: If you live in a poor neighborhood, algorithms will measure …

Is Facebook a liberal tool?

Some people seem to think so. Gizmodo ran a piece yesterday that quoted former Facebook employees who said they’d been instructed to give preference to progressive news — and deep six conservative news. This is in stark contrast to Facebook’s claims that their content is created strictly by algorithms. Facebook has denied the claim. And …