iSchool Research Symposium: Ruha Benjamin
Race to the Future? Reimagining the Default Settings of Technology & Society
From everyday apps to complex algorithms, technology has the potential to hide, speed and deepen discrimination, while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to racist practices of a previous era.
In this talk, Ruha Benjamin explores a range of discriminatory designs that encode inequity — what she terms the “New Jim Code.” This presentation takes us into the world of biased bots, altruistic algorithms and their many entanglements, and provides conceptual tools to decode tech promises with historical and sociological insight. She will also consider how race itself is a kind of tool designed to stratify and sanctify social injustice and discuss how technology is and can be used toward liberatory ends. In doing so, Dr. Benjamin challenges us to question not only the technologies we are sold, but also the ones we manufacture ourselves.
For more information about Dr. Benjamin, go to www.ruhabenjamin.com.