Code Like a Girl’s Losing Lena

Lena is the very first bias in algorithms. We wanted to make her the last. 

Back in the 70’s, some guys used Lena, a Playboy centrefold, to test their image processing algorithms. Today, Lena is the most used test image in the world. We created a social movement to stop the use of the Lena image, centred around a feature documentary, to help millions of women feel more welcome in tech.

Awards: Webby winner, AWARD 2 golds,  AWARD silver, One Show bronze, Ad Star 3 bronzes, D&AD 2 nominations, included in Fast Company’s ‘World Changing Ideas’. In 2020, ‘Losing Lena’ was recognised as significant Australian content and has been included in the permanent collection at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.

Website

Website

Now when you search for the Lena image in university databases you are served up this image.

Now when you search for the Lena image in university databases you are served up this image.

Lena Film Premiere[1].jpeg