Overview

Buying groceries, tracking our health, finding a date: whatever we want to do, odds are that we can now do it online. But few of us ask how all these digital products are designed or why. It's time we changed that. Many of the services we rely on are full of oversights, biases and downright ethical nightmares. Chatbots that harass women. Sign-up forms that fail anyone who's not straight. Social media sites that send messages about dead relatives. Algorithms that put more black people behind bars. Technically Wrong takes an unflinching look at the values, processes and assumptions that lead to these problems and more. Wachter-Boettcher demystifies the tech industry, leaving those of us on the other side of the screen better prepared to make informed choices about the services we use—and demand more from the companies behind them.

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Reviews

Wachter-Boettcher clearly demonstrates the ways digital products are deeply connected to the intentional and unintentional biases of their designers in this approachable primer on digital technology. -- Publishers Weekly Just as the current political climate has inspired many to pick up a sign and head out into the street for the first time, I hope Technically Wrong will inspire newcomers to start thinking more critically about the apps and algorithms around them. -- Anna Lauren Hoffmann - Science An entertaining romp that tells us where and why the tech industry, once America's darling, went wrong, and what it might do to recover its good graces. -- Tim Wu, author of The Master Switch No matter how we set the preferences, the results turn out the same. For all of digital technology's supposed configurability and customization, there's a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all quality to the apps and platforms we use, pushing conformity over individuality and acquiescence over identity. Sara Wachter-Boettcher reveals how none of us can, or should, live up to the image our technology has of us. -- Douglas Rushkoff, author of Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus Sara Wachter-Boettcher is exactly the kind of sharp, informed and deeply compassionate critic of the tech industry that we need right now. Technically Wrong makes a strong case for adding basic humanity into the algorithms of the digital products that define the age. It's an invitation for all of us to think more deeply about our connections to others in any medium. -- Sarah Kaufman, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, author of The Art of Grace Technically Wrong offers one of the deepest, most thoughtful views on exactly how today's tech is affecting us, and at how we could change those apps for the better. It's an essential guide for people who care about ensuring that today's tech is humane and ethical. -- Anil Dash, CEO of Fog Creek Software If a book on design in the technology industry ever deserved a standing ovation, this one is it. Sara Wachter-Boettcher has laid out a concise case for digital product makers to work with a broader range of people. And that means working with people unlike themselves as both makers and consumers, and from start to finish. -- John Maeda, author of The Laws of Simplicity

Thoughtful and entertaining, [Technically Wrong] encourages its readers to give their apps a critical eye, considering the many ways biased programming can influence users. This argument for greater diversity in the technology industry is an important call-to-arms. -- The best books of 2018 in tech, science, business and ideas - Wired Technology permeates life, from grocery shopping to dating apps. Yet we rarely question its design or aims. Web consultant Sara Wachter-Boettcher proffers a damning critique of the ethical dilemmas it poses, and why we need to demand more accountability from tech creators. -- Mary Craig rounds up the highlights of this season's releases. - Nature This is a powerful read reflecting on the prejudices that lurk within a powerful industry. -- Selected as one of the 25 best books for IT leaders - IT Pro The stories she [Sara Wachter-Boettcher] tells... are good, as are the examples she provides of corporate failure. -- The Sunday Times

Technology permeates life, from grocery shopping to dating apps. Yet we rarely question its design or aims. Web consultant Sara Wachter-Boettcher proffers a damning critique of the ethical dilemmas it poses, and why we need to demand more accountability from tech creators. -- Mary Craig rounds up the highlights of this season's releases. - Nature This is a powerful read reflecting on the prejudices that lurk within a powerful industry. -- Selected as one of the 25 best books for IT leaders - IT Pro The stories she [Sara Wachter-Boettcher] tells... are good, as are the examples she provides of corporate failure. -- The Sunday Times

Author Information

Sara Wachter-Boettcher runs Rare Union, a consultancy based in Philadelphia, and is the author of Technically Wrong, Design for Real Life, with Eric Meyer, and Content Everywhere. She helps organizations with digital product and content strategy, and speaks at conferences worldwide.

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