Richard Graham (University of Birmingham) will be presenting his paper, ‘Understanding Google: 5000 Years of Human Thought in 0.3 Seconds’, at 5.30pm on Tuesday, 12 March 2019. The talk will take place in the Cardiff University’s John Percival Building, Room 2.01, and will be followed by a wine reception.
Abstract
How do search engines change the way we think or remember? Should global technologies present knowledge as universal, or are some truths relative? Does Google’s contribution to the democratisation of knowledge outweigh their facilitation of fake news, conspiracy theories and hate speech?
Search engines have become an integral part of the Web for many around the world who rely upon them on a daily basis. Google’s search engine governs a wide range of activities that regulate how news, politics and cultural beliefs circulate online. Therefore, search engines are at the centre of a huge number of debates that reach far beyond the study of an isolated technology.
This talk will address a range of diverse issues concerning the nature of search, including how our identities are interpreted algorithmically and how search engines provide individuals with different results based on the language they speak, where in the world they search from, and the phrasing of queries that might disclose existing attitudes. The paper will also address the social impact of harnessing big data and machine learning to make linguistic judgements, which often lead to the propagation of sexist, racist or extremist views. In an age when multinational technology companies have the power to distribute fake news, trace human behaviour in ever-closer detail, and shape the kind of knowledge people have access to around the globe, critical and human-centric enquiry is urgently required. The talk will highlight why humanities perspectives are essential for the study of digital culture and will directly address how researchers without a computing background can study and critique dynamic computational systems.
About the speaker
Richard Graham is a Lecturer in Contemporary Literature and the Digital at the University of Birmingham. He specialises in exploring the intersection of technology, language and culture in contemporary media forms within a global context. His current project Understanding Google investigates how to analyse dynamic digital technologies, such as Google’s search engine, from a humanities perspective. Richard’s most recent published work explores Google’s role in the dissemination of fake news and the changing nature of work and digital labour: ‘Google and Advertising: Digital Capitalism in the Context of Post-Fordism, the Reification of Language, and the Rise of Fake News’ and is available open access in Digital Society and Capitalism Special Issue, Palgrave Communications, 3 (2017) doi: 10.1057/s41599-017-0021-4.
Richard currently convenes and teaches modules on digital culture, which focus on the history and philosophy of technology, speculative literature and film, videogames and how to critically analyse contemporary technology such as virtual reality, drones and social media, from a humanities perspective.
