The Order of Multitudes: Atlas, Encyclopedia, Museum
In her recent best-selling book Algorithms of Oppression, Dr. Safiya 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, and in this talk, Noble offers a powerful set of data points, examples, and provocations. She asserts we are at the beginning of creating new paradigms of justice in the technology sector and that information institutions and professionals are both at the forefront of a necessary reckoning with the past and the vanguard for the future. Dr. Noble’s talk suggests both 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.
