“A Better World, Faster:” Epistemic Practices of Google.org

• In Event: Making Objectivity in Data-Centric Knowledge Practices

Abstract

Although often hidden from view, philanthropic practice plays a major role in funding the scientific research, technological development, and political advocacy surrounding contemporary digital technology. In recent years, Silicon Valley technology companies have shown particular interest in funding philanthropic work. In this paper I examine the ways objectivity is made and re-made in the knowledge practices of Google.org, Google's philanthropic wing. I analyze the web presence of Google.org as well as their blog posts, calls for projects, vision statements, lists of employees and collaborators, and other grey literature. I examine the projects they choose to fund, the vocabulary and rhetoric used in their literature, and the underlying theories of change they promote. I argue Google.org’s philosophy of technology aligns with what Andrew Feenberg (1991) calls an instrumental view of technology, in which technologies are tools, without values of their own, and stand ready to serve the purposes of their users. They prioritize solutions which are innovative, unexpected, and scientific over those which are self-reflective, collaborative, and support structural change. Efficiency, optimization, and innovation are not just prioritized— they are proxies for moral worth. Google's philanthropic approach prides itself on using ‘data’ and ‘facts’ to enact measurable, scalable contributions using the most advanced data analysis and engineering approaches. As tech companies entangle themselves more and more in everyday life, STS scholars must direct their attention to the political and epistemic practices of Silicon Valley’s involvement in the ‘nonprofit industrial complex’ (INCITE! 2009).

Author

• Rachel Bergmann, McGill University