The demand for data labeling in the artificial intelligence industry — tagging videos, sorting photos, and transcribing audio in order to train AI — has created a massive need for cheap labor, leading data-labeling platforms such as Appen to hire low-pay workers in countries like Venezuela, the Philippines, and Kenya to do these tasks. In […]
data
Posted inCulture, Nonfiction, Reading List, Story
What We Remember: A Reading List on Archives
Why do we keep what we keep — and who decides? An archivist digs and collects longreads on how objects and materials shape public memory.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How to Map Nothing
“What if we took each sourdough selfie, each Zoom class, each Peloton ride, each Netflix binge and mapped the ecology of resources and services that have made it possible for some of us? And at the same time impossible for others?” On pandemic maps and the Great Pause.
Posted inEditor's Pick
How a Young Activist Is Helping Pope Francis Battle Climate Change
“Molly Burhans wants the Catholic Church to put its assets—which include farms, forests, oil wells, and millions of acres of land—to better use. But, first, she has to map them.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Is The Internet Doing To Boomers’ Brains?
“Social media platforms are sucking a generation into a misinformation rabbit hole.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Dying Inside
4,998 inmates died in U.S. jails without getting their day in court. Reuters investigates the fatalities in America’s biggest jails.
Posted inEditor's Pick
“I Have Blood on My Hands”: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation
An internal memo from fired data scientist Sophie Zhang explains how Facebook knew that politicians around the world were engaged in “inauthentic activity” on the social network in order to manipulate voters.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Double-Double Tracking: How Tim Hortons Knows Where You Sleep, Work and Vacation
“Even just the graph of events, I can see that you start heading out from work on Fridays at 2 p.m … Like, if I wanted to assassinate you, this would be absolutely perfect.”
Posted inNonfiction
How Google Discovered the Value of Surveillance
In 2002, still reeling from the dot-com crash, Google realized they’d been harvesting a very valuable raw material — your behavior.
Posted inStory
Yentl Syndrome: A Deadly Data Bias Against Women
The science of medicine is based on male bodies, but researchers are beginning to realize how vastly the symptoms of disease differ between the sexes — and how much danger women are in.