The voices of women in tech are still being erased

What happened to the old TikTok voice? And who was the woman behind it?

Sponsored by Lumen Technologies The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 08.03.21 Hello! Today we have an opinion piece talking about the ways in which women's work in tech is still overlooked. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. The voices of women in tech are still being erased In the middle of the night on May 24, TikTok changed its voice. The ubiquitous woman’s voice that could read your video’s text out loud in a slightly stilted, robotic cadence was suddenly replaced by one with an almost smirky, upbeat tone. Many users started calling the new one the “Uncanny Valley Girl” to express their displeasure. Lil Nas X even made a TikTok about it. But what happened to the old voice? And who was the woman behind it? Women's voices and bodies can be found all throughout the history of computing—from being heard in launch countdowns to being visible in photographs—but only relatively recently have historians written these women back into the narrative by explaining what they did. For a long time, women were mistakenly thought to be peripheral to computing history, even though they were often the ones who programmed the computers. And it is still the case that when we hear a woman’s voice as part of a tech product, we might not know who she is, whether she is even real, and if so, whether she consented to have her voice used in that way. Many TikTok users assumed that the text-to-speech voice they heard on the app wasn’t a real person. But it was: it belonged to a Canadian voice actor named Bev Standing, and Standing had never given ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, permission to use it. Read the full story. —Mar Hicks is an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology  and author of the book Programmed Inequality (MIT Press, 2017).  We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.) + Remember the naked man chasing a boar in Berlin last year? Well now there’s a model for your model railways of the scene. + Just a whole bunch of lovely heartwarming pics from the Olympics so far. + This Chinese gymnast had the strength to showboat while hanging from the rings. Kudos. + LOVE this synchronized swimming pool entry. + The Lord of the Rings series is coming to Amazon in September (2022, booooo) and fans are trying to find clues in the first promo image.  + Very much enjoying this photo of whale watchers missing the… whale. (Bad news—that "Cormac McCarthy" Twitter account I gleefully linked to yesterday is a fake! I feel cheated.) Sponsor Message Computing at the cutting edge Edge computing enables innovations in several industries, such as retail, health care, and manufacturing. Download the free report. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1  How Saudi Arabia is weaponizing social media Murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi faced a swarm of online harassment. (The Intercept) 2 People looking for unauthorized covid booster shots are causing havoc Anxious patients are trying to beat the system. (Stat)   + Germany will be offering boosters from September. (NYT)   + How local media spreads misinformation about vaccines. (NYT)   + China is rolling out more restrictions as delta spreads. (WaPo) 3 How France tamed Google The money is meaningless, but the changes will be profound. (Wired UK)   + Amazon will give you $10 for your palmprint. Erm. (The Verge)   + How Reddit can be more helpful than Facebook when your account is hacked. 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(Protocol) 10 What to do when a space station starts doing backflips Try not to freak out. (NYT)   + A bit too much excitement, let’s be honest. (Atlantic) Understand the promise of technology.  Make MIT Technology Review your go-to resource for thought-provoking insights, analysis, and news about the world of technology. Get unlimited access when you subscribe today. Quote of the day "All of us were kind of powerless. That’s what it comes down to." —An anonymous former customer service specialist at Activision Blizzard talks to Digiday about navigating the company’s toxic work culture. Top image credit: Ms Tech Please send meticulously-constructed tiny models of mildly viral online moments to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @niallfirth. Thanks for reading! —Niall Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Leading with Innovation. Join us virtually September 28-30. 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