Noted Scholar to Give Virtual Talk on New Social Justice Paradigms for Technology Sector

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Best-selling author and associate professor at UCLA, Safiya Noble ,will give a virtual talk titled “New Paradigms of Justice: How Knowledge Curators Can Respond to the Information Crisis” at noon on Thursday, April 1 via Zoom. Registration is required. Noble argues that data discrimination is a real social problem that demands the creation of new paradigms of justice in the technology sector. Noble’s talk suggests practical and imaginative ways for information professionals like librarians, museum curators and knowledge managers to take seriously the role they can play in synthesizing complex social crises into their work and their ability to positively employ social change. This talk will be recorded and will be available to members of the UMass Amherst community.

Noble is the author of a book on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in commercial search engines, entitled “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” which has been widely-reviewed in journals and periodicals including the Los Angeles Review of Books, and featured in the New York Public Library 2018 Best Books for Adults (non-fiction).

In her recent best-selling book “Algorithms of Oppression,” Noble challenges the idea that “Big Tech” offers an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities and activities. Her work argues that the combination of private interests, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of internet companies, leads to a limited understanding of how racism is created, maintained and disseminated in everyday digital engagements. Data discrimination is a real social problem. In this talk, Safiya Noble argues that data discrimination is a real social problem that demands new paradigms of justice in the technology sector. Noble’s talk suggests practical and imaginative ways for information professionals like librarians, museum curators, and knowledge managers to take seriously the role they can play in synthesizing complex social crises to create positive social change.

Noble is an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the department of information studies, where she serves as the co-director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). She is regularly quoted for her expertise on issues of algorithmic discrimination and technology bias by national and international press including The Guardian, the BBC, CNN International, USA Today, Wired, Time, The New York Times and a host of local news and podcasts, including Science Friday. Noble holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in sociology from Fresno State University.

The event is sponsored by the department of communication with generous support from O’Leary Endowment.