A01=Colin Koopman
algorithmic bias
algorithmic fairness
artificial intelligence
Author_Colin Koopman
Category=JB
Category=QDTQ
Category=QDTS
Category=UBJ
critical data studies
data
data ethics
democracy
education technology
eq_bestseller
eq_computing
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
relational equality
value alignment
Product details
- ISBN 9780226842257
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 16 Sep 2025
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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An expansive vision for data equality that goes beyond algorithmic fairness.
When we gave algorithms power over our world, we hoped that the apparent neutrality of machine thinking would create a more egalitarian age. Yet we are more divided than ever, staring down threats to democracy itself. In Data Equals, Colin Koopman argues that data technologies fail us so often because we built them around a deficient notion of equality.
It is not enough, Koopman explains, that algorithms engage everyone’s data with the same measuring stick. The data themselves are all too often structured in ways that obscure and exacerbate stratifying distinctions. Koopman contends that we must also work to ensure that those people subject to computational assessment enter data systems on equal terms. Part philosophical argument, part practical guide (replete with case studies from education technology), Data Equals offers novel methods for realizing democratic equality in a digital age.
When we gave algorithms power over our world, we hoped that the apparent neutrality of machine thinking would create a more egalitarian age. Yet we are more divided than ever, staring down threats to democracy itself. In Data Equals, Colin Koopman argues that data technologies fail us so often because we built them around a deficient notion of equality.
It is not enough, Koopman explains, that algorithms engage everyone’s data with the same measuring stick. The data themselves are all too often structured in ways that obscure and exacerbate stratifying distinctions. Koopman contends that we must also work to ensure that those people subject to computational assessment enter data systems on equal terms. Part philosophical argument, part practical guide (replete with case studies from education technology), Data Equals offers novel methods for realizing democratic equality in a digital age.
Colin Koopman is professor of philosophy and director of new media and culture at the University of Oregon. His books include How We Became Our Data: A Genealogy of the Informational Person, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
