  This paper explores the value of archival theory as a means of grappling with
bias in algorithmic design. Rather than seek to mitigate biases perpetuated by
datasets and algorithmic systems, archival theory offers a reframing of bias
itself. Drawing on a range of archival theory from the fields of history,
literary and cultural studies, Black studies, and feminist STS, we propose
absence-as power, presence, and productive-as a concept that might more
securely anchor investigations into the causes of algorithmic bias, and that
can prompt more capacious, creative, and joyful future work. This essay, in
turn, can intervene into the technical as well as the social, historical, and
political structures that serve as sources of bias.
