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Behind the screen : content moderation in the shadows of social media / Sarah T. Roberts

Author
Roberts, Sarah T. (Professor of information studies)
Published
New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]
Copyright Date
©2019
Physical Description
266 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

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Contents
Introduction: behind the internet -- one. behind the screen -- two. understanding commercial content moderation -- three. screening in Silicon Valley -- four. "I call myself a sin-eater" -- five. "modern heroes": moderating in Manila -- six. digital humanity -- notes -- acknowledgments.
Summary
An eye-opening look at the invisible workers who protect us from seeing humanity's worst on today's commercial internet. Social media on the internet can be a nightmarish place. A primary shield against hateful language, violent videos, and online cruelty uploaded by users is not an algorithm. It is people. Mostly invisible by design, more than 100,000 commercial content moderators evaluate posts on mainstream social media platforms: enforcing internal policies, training artificial intelligence systems, and actively screening and removing offensive material--sometimes thousands of items per day. Sarah T. Roberts, an award-winning social media scholar, offers the first extensive ethnographic study of the commercial content moderation industry. Based on interviews with workers from Silicon Valley to the Philippines, at boutique firms and at major social media companies, she contextualizes this hidden industry and examines the emotional toll it takes on its workers. This revealing investigation of the people "behind the screen" offers insights into not only the reality of our commercial internet but the future of globalized labor in the digital age.
Subject(s)
ISBN
9780300235883
0300235887
Bibliography Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Endowment Note
Paterno Libraries Endowment (Campus College Libraries)
View MARC record | catkey: 26775561