Research Seminar for Mediated Culture and Information: "What Would an Ethical Search Engine Look Like?"

Rosie Graham, University of Birmingham.

A vast amount of research has shown the ethical failings of search engines, from their algorithmic discrimination of minoritized individuals, to their proliferation of fake news, environmental impact and beyond. But what would an ethical search engine look like, and would building one even be possible, or economically sustainable? 

Rosie Graham, Lecturer in Contemporary Literature and the Digital (University of Birmingham), will explore these questions through an interdisciplinary approach, scrutinizing search engines through the lenses of philosophy, history, economics, and new media. She will also present findings from her 2023 bookInvestigating Google’s Search Engine: Ethics, Algorithms, and the Machines Built to Read Us (Bloomsbury).”