“Discriminating Data” Book Discussion with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun

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Research Director Sonja Solomun spoke with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun about her newly published book Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition (MIT Press). The book argues that polarization is a goal, not an error, within big data and machine learning, showing how correlation, homophily-driven recommender systems, and technologies of recognition encode segregation, eugenics, and identity politics through their default assumptions. Chun calls for alternative algorithms, defaults, and interdisciplinary coalitions to desegregate networks and foster a more democratic big data.