Posts

UCLA Professor Safiya Umoja Noble Awarded MacArthur Fellowship

, , ,

Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, Associate Professor of Gender Studies and African American Studies at UCLA, was recently awarded the 2021 MacArthur Fellowship. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation honors 25 luminaries, who each receive $625,000 over five years. The Chicago-based foundation has awarded these “genius” grants every year since 1981 to help further the pursuits of people with outstanding talent and extraordinary creativity.

“This is an unexpected and thrilling recognition that I hope shines a light on the dangerous, antidemocratic, and unjust technologies that need to be abolished or regulated. I hope to use this grant to further my own work and amplify the work of other Black women.”

Dr. Noble is the co-founder and faculty director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, an interdisciplinary research center working at the intersection of civil and human rights, social justice, democracy, and technology. Her scholarship focuses on digital media and its impact on society, as well as how digital technology and artificial intelligence converge with questions of race, gender, culture, and power. In her best-selling book, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, she explores how AI and algorithms harm vulnerable people, and undermine the public good.

LA Social Science congratulates Professor Safiya Umoja Noble on this well-deserved honor.

/by

UCLA Division of Social Sciences Premieres “Big Data and Society” Video

, , ,

In the UCLA Division of Social Sciences, we are dedicated to advancing research with real-world impact. As the #1 public university located in one of the most diverse cities in the world, we are ideally positioned to address critical issues facing our communities. Through the work of our world-class faculty – and our students who will become the leaders of tomorrow – we strive to be a leading agent for change across the nation and around the world.

Here in the Social Sciences at UCLA, we are very interested in the impact of technology on society. There are countless applications of big data that help us solve many of the problems that define life today in American society. LA Social Science is pleased to share this video highlighting two researchers, Dr. Till von Wachter and Dr. Safiya Noble, and the important, big data research they are leading in the social sciences.

As a public institution, our work is ultimately in service of you, our community. By engaging LA, we are changing the world.

/by

LA Social Science Women’s History Month Take-Over Featuring Dr. Noble and Dr. Roberts

, , , ,

This Women’s History Month Take-Over features Dr. Safiya Noble, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, African American Studies, and Gender Studies, and Dr. Sarah Roberts, Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and Labor Studies at UCLA. They are the co-founders and co-directors of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). They discuss the importance, now more than ever, of social science research at the intersection of technology and society. Follow the center on Twitter @C2i2_UCLA and visit www.c2i2.ucla.edu for more information about the center’s cutting-edge research on the effects of social media and internet platforms on vulnerable communities and tech workers.

Happy Women’s History Month!

 

Subscribe to LA Social Science and be the first to learn more insight and knowledge from UCLA’s Division of Social Science experts and other faculty about upcoming video/audio sessions and posts about current issues.

/by

TIME100 Talk Features UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry

, , ,

On October 20, UCLA’s Dr. Safiya Noble will be in conversation with TIME and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex for a specially curated TIME100 Talks episode that will dive into the state of our digital experience. In her segment with Duchess Meghan and Duke Harry, which also includes Tristan Harris of the new film, “The Social Dilemma,” she talks about the need for public policy and a strengthening of institutions like libraries, schools and universities as a democratic counterweight to Big Tech. Professor Noble is the Co-Director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry where she co-leads the Minderoo Initiative on Technology and Power.

Register to watch by clicking HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

/by