[Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment

In honour of International Women’s Day 2024, I thought I would share with you the links to three really interesting stories about women. 1 The secret lives of MI6’s women spies A FT Weekend podcast episode about what it’s like for women to work in espionage. It discusses how difficult it is to be taken … Continue reading [Miscellany] IWD 2024: Women spies, Barbie v Oscars, and online gender harassment

Biases in algorithms – the case of Hello Barbie

Sometime ago, I saw a presentation by Val Steeves, Professor of Criminology at the University of Ottawa (Canada), about her research on smart toys. The talk focused on Hello Barbie, a Barbie-branded doll which is advertised as “the first fashion doll that can have a two-way conversation with girls”, and featuring “speech recognition and progressive … Continue reading Biases in algorithms – the case of Hello Barbie