For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code. Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript. We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)
085: BOOK CLUB! Technically Wrong with Sara Wachter-Boettcher
Buy the book! Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech
01:02 – Sara’s Superpower: Communication and Connecting the Dots
03:43 – The Process of Writing, Editing, and Communicating the Book
06:17 – A Summary of Technically Wrong
11:13 – The Harms and Risk of Data Sharing on Social Media
14:42 – Bias and Algorithms
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
23:50 – Machine Learning and Image Recognition
28:48 – Ethics Training and Responsibility
RubyConf 2017: Finding Responsibility by Caleb Thompson
35:45 – Paternalizm / Parochialism
Reflections:
Astrid: How we can get people to start making changes based off what we basically know.
John: Stress cases: Thinking about the ideal user and what are the qualities of other users that may be affected by the way something is presented?
Jamey: The importance of having cultures in tech and workplaces that are not homogenized.
Sara: We don’t get better at anything if we don’t talk about it and practice it.
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Special Guest: Sara Wachter-Boettcher.