Wendy Chun "From Discriminating Data to Digital Democracies"

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun is the Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia where she also leads the Digital Democracies Group. She is the author of multiple books, most recently Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition (MIT Press, 2021). Chun, who has a background in systems design engineering as well as media studies and cultural theory, explains that although machine learning algorithms may not officially include race as a category, they embed whiteness as a default. Facial recognition technology, for example, relies on the faces of Hollywood celebrities and university undergraduates—groups not famous for their diversity. How can we release ourselves from the vice-like grip of discriminatory data? Chun calls for alternative algorithms, defaults, and interdisciplinary coalitions in order to desegregate networks and foster a more democratic big data.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

College of Arts and Sciences Events Center, 25 Park Place Northeast, Atlanta, United States