Biased Data: A Panel Discussion on Internet Intersectionality and Ethics

“Biased Data” will focus on inequality and bias in internet culture and other network technologies. While many academic disciplines acknowledge social inequality in the real world, little work has been done on how these cultural paradigms bleed into online life. The panel will examine how real-world biases and inequality are replicated and systematically integrated into ”neutral” algorithms and databases. Panelists: Safiya Noble is a professor in Information Studies at UCLA. She conducts research in socio-cultural informatics; including feminist, historical and political-economic perspectives on computing platforms and software in the public interest. Her research is at the intersection of transnational culture and technology in the design and use of applications on the Internet. She is currently writing a book about Google and information bias (forthcoming on NYU Press). See her TED talk on social influences on technology at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXuJ8yQf6dI Marika Cifor is a doctoral student in Information Studies at UCLA. Her research interests include archives, gender and sexuality, affect, cultural, queer and feminist theories, and memory. Find her online at http://marikacifor.com/ An Xiao Mina is an artist, writer, and technologist based in California. She writes about art and social change in the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on new media and global art practices. Find her online at @anxiaostudio and anxiaostudio.com Moderators: Johanna Hedva is the author of a novel, The Crow and the Queen, published in limited-edition handmade hardcovers in 2013, and the writer/director of The Greek Cycle (2012-15), a collection of four Ancient Greek plays that’ve been queered, feminist-ed, and performed in non-traditional venues in Los Angeles (like a Honda Odyssey for Homer’s Odyssey). She is currently completing her book-length political proposition Sick Woman Theory, under the mentorship of Fred Moten, as a research fellow at land’s edge. Casey Reas lives and works in Los Angeles where he is a Professor at UCLA’s Department of Design Media Arts. His software, prints, and installations have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Casey co-founded Processing with Ben Fry in 2001 while studying with John Maeda in MIT’s Media Lab. The panel will be followed by a reception, where snacks and beer will be served. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1614820265449577/