Ethics of the algorithm : digital humanities and Holocaust memory / Todd Presner ; with contributions by Anna Bonazzi, Rachel Deblinger, Lizhou Fan, Michelle Lee, Kyle Rosen, and Campbell Yamane.

Author/creator Presner, Todd Samuel author.
Format Book
PublicationPrinceton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2024]
Descriptionxvii, 436 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cm
Subjects

Other author/creatorBonazzi, Anna, contributor.
Other author/creatorDeblinger, Rachel, contributor.
Other author/creatorFan, Lizhou, contributor. https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PCjFYcTqQPFqGTxTyP8vd73
Other author/creatorLee, Michelle, contributor.
Other author/creatorRosen, Kyle, contributor.
Other author/creatorYamane, Campbell, contributor.
Portion of title Digital humanities and Holocaust memory
Contents Introduction. Technologies of testimony and distant witnessing -- What should algorithms have to do with ethics? -- Computation that (de)humanizes : from "bare data" to human life -- David Boder and the origins of computational analysis of survivor testimonies -- Through the lens of big data : a macroanalysis of the USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive -- The haunted voice : on the ethics of close and distant listening -- Algorithmic close reading : analyzing vectors of agency in Holocaust testimonies / with Lizhou Fan -- Cultural memory machines and the futures of testimony / with Rachel Deblinger.
Abstract "The Holocaust is one of the most documented-and now digitized-events in human history. Institutions and archives hold hundreds of thousands of hours of audio and video testimony, composed of more than a billion words in dozens of languages, with millions of pieces of descriptive metadata. It would take several lifetimes to engage with these testimonies one at a time. Computational methods could be used to analyze an entire archive-but what are the ethical implications of "listening" to Holocaust testimonies by means of an algorithm? In this book, Todd Presner explores how the digital humanities can provide both new insights and humanizing perspectives for Holocaust memory and history. Presner suggests that it is possible to develop an "ethics of the algorithm" that mediates between the ethical demands of listening to individual testimonies and the interpretative possibilities of computational methods. He delves into thousands of testimonies and witness accounts, focusing on the analysis of trauma, language, voice, genre, and the archive itself. Tracing the affordances of digital tools that range from early, proto-computational approaches to more recent uses of automatic speech recognition and natural language processing, Presner introduces readers to what may be the ultimate expression of these methods: AI-driven testimonies that use machine learning to process responses to questions, offering a user experience that seems to replicate an actual conversation with a Holocaust survivor. With Ethics of the Algorithm, Presner presents a digital humanities argument for how big data models and computational methods can be used to preserve and perpetuate cultural memory"-- Provided by publisher.
Abstract "How computational methods can expand how we see, read, and listen to Holocaust testimony. The Holocaust is one of the most documented-and now digitized-events in human history. Institutions and archives hold hundreds of thousands of hours of audio and video testimony, composed of more than a billion words in dozens of languages, with millions of pieces of descriptive metadata. It would take several lifetimes to engage with these testimonies one at a time. Computational methods could be used to analyze an entire archive-but what are the ethical implications of "listening" to Holocaust testimonies by means of an algorithm? In this book, Todd Presner explores how the digital humanities can provide both new insights and humanizing perspectives for Holocaust memory and history. Presner suggests that it is possible to develop an "ethics of the algorithm" that mediates between the ethical demands of listening to individual testimonies and the interpretative possibilities of computational methods. He delves into thousands of testimonies and witness accounts, focusing on the analysis of trauma, language, voice, genre, and the archive itself. Tracing the affordances of digital tools that range from early, proto-computational approaches to more recent uses of automatic speech recognition and natural language processing, Presner introduces readers to what may be the ultimate expression of these methods: AI-driven testimonies that use machine learning to process responses to questions, offering a user experience that seems to replicate an actual conversation with a Holocaust survivor.With Ethics of the Algorithm, Presner presents a digital humanities argument for how big data models and computational methods can be used to preserve and perpetuate cultural memory"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Presner, Todd Samuel. Ethics of the algorithm Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2024] 9780691258980
LCCN 2024012546
ISBN9780691258966
ISBN0691258961 hardcover
ISBNelectronic book

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