Safiya Noble
Safiya Noble | |
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Known for | Algorithms of Oppression |
Awards | MacArthur Fellow |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | California State University, Fresno University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Thesis | Searching for black girls: old traditions in new media (2012) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of California, Los Angeles |
Website | https://safiyaunoble.com/ |
Safiya Umoja Noble is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Gender Studies, African American Studies, and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the Director of the UCLA Center on Race & Digital Justice and Co-Director of the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power at the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2). She currently serves as Interim Director of the UCLA DataX Initiative, leading work in critical data studies.
Noble is the author of the best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic harm in commercial search engines, entitled Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (NYU Press), which has been widely-reviewed in scholarly and popular publications. In 2021, she was recognized as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her ground-breaking work on algorithmic discrimination.
She is a board member of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, serving those vulnerable to online harassment, and provides expertise to a number of civil and human rights organizations. She is a Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford where she is a chartering member of the International Panel on the Information Environment. In 2022, she was recognized as the inaugural NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award recipient.
She was appointed a Commissioner to the University of Oxford Commission on AI and Good Governance in 2020.[1] In 2020 she was nominated to the Global Future Council on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity at the World Economic Foundation.[2]
Early life and education
Noble grew up in Fresno, California.[3] She went on to study sociology at California State University, Fresno with a focus on African American and Ethnic Studies.[4] While at Fresno State, Noble was involved with the "campus political scene," protesting against apartheid and campaigning for racial and gender equality.[3] She was a member of the Associated Students, Inc. and the California Statewide Student Association.[5] After she graduated, Noble worked for more than a decade in multicultural marketing, advertising and public relations.[6]
Noble attended University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for graduate studies where she earned a master's degree and Ph.D. in Library and Information Science.[3][7] Her 2012 dissertation, Searching for black girls: old traditions in new media, considered how gender and race manifest on technology platforms.[8]
Career
Noble was appointed assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the Department of African-American studies, the Department of Media and Cinema Studies and the Institute for Communication Research.[8] Noble joined University of California, Los Angeles's Department of Information Studies in 2014.[9] She was awarded the University of California, Los Angeles Early Career Award in 2016.[10][11] The same year she was appointed a Hellman Fellow in for research in a non-commercial public information index system.[12] Noble received tenure at UCLA and was promoted to associate professor in 2018.[13]
Noble joined the University of Southern California from 2017 to 2019 as a visiting assistant professor.[14] At USC, she focused on the politics and human and civil rights concerns of digital media platforms, which includes the integration of these issues in STEM and engineering education.[15]
On 25 September 2020, Noble was named as one of the 25 members of the "Real Facebook Oversight Board", an independent monitoring group over Facebook.[16] In October 2020, she was featured in conversation with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex on the harms of technology, and her book Algorithms of Oppression has been cited by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for how "the digital space really shapes our thinking about race."[17][18]
Noble was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.[19]
Research
Noble's academic research focuses on the internet and its impact on society. Her work is both sociological and interdisciplinary, marking the ways that digital media intersects with issues of race, gender, culture, power, and technology. Her expertise on issues of algorithmic discrimination and technology bias has been captured by national and international press including Rolling Stone, The Guardian, the BBC, CNN International, USA Today, Wired, Time, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The New York Times, and a host of network news and podcasts. Her popular writing includes critiques on the loss of public goods to Big Tech companies, as featured in Noema magazine.
Her research additionally focuses on gender, technology and culture, and how they influence the design and use of the internet.[20] Her work has appeared in academic publications and popular media outlets including Time[21] and Bitch.[22] In 2016, Noble edited Emotions, Technology & Design and The Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Culture and Class Online .[23][24] The goal of Emotions, Technology & Design and The Internet: Race, Sex, Culture and Class Online is to provide a text to stimulate individuals to think about new methods of global internets. She is the co-editor of the Commentary & Criticism section of the journal Feminist Media Studies. She is a member of several academic journal and advisory boards which include both Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, and the Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies.[11][9]
Algorithms of Oppression
Noble's first book, Algorithms of Oppression, was published by NYU Press in 2018 and has been globally reviewed in journals such as the Los Angeles Review of Books and featured in the New York Public Library 2018 Best Books for Adults.[25][26] It considers how bias against people of color is embedded into supposedly neutral search engines.[26] It explores how racism, especially anti-blackness, is generated and maintained by the internet.[27][28] In it, Noble is greatly concerned with looking at the ways the Black community is commercialized in powerful technological companies. She focuses on companies like Google and Facebook and how their algorithms "black-box" information, e.g. when a search term is entered, it is unclear how results for the search are derived. Noble's work calls attention to a system that reproduces marginalization. Her hope is to end social injustice and change the perceptions of marginalized people in technology.[29] She blogged about "Digital Infrastructures of Race and Gender" at the Fotomuseum in Zurich's online platform.[30] She has also given talks and interviews about Algorithms of Oppression.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]
Select publications
- Noble, Safiya Umoja (2018). Algorithms of oppression: how search engines reinforce racism. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9781479837243. OCLC 1029007986.
- Noble, Safiya U.; Austin, Jeanie; Sweeney, Miriam E.; McKeever, Lucas; Sullivan, Elizabeth (2013). "Changing Course: Collaborative Reflections of Teaching/Taking "Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Information Professions"". Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 55 (3): 212–222. ISSN 0748-5786.
- Noble, Safiya U. (15 January 2017). "Google and the Misinformed Public". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
Edited volumes
- Noble, Safiya Umoja; Tynes, Brendesha M, eds. (2016). The Intersectional Internet Race, Sex, Class, and Culture Online. New York: Peter Lang. ISBN 9781433130014. OCLC 946134246.
- Tettegah, Sharon Y; Noble, Safiya Umoja, eds. (2016). Emotions, technology, and design. Amsterdam Academic Press. ISBN 9780128018729. OCLC 944209071.
References
- ^ "OxCAIGG | Professor Safiya Noble". oxcaigg.oii.ox.ac.uk.
- ^ "Artificial Intelligence for Humanity". World Economic Forum.
- ^ a b c Munro, Donald (19 April 2018). "When Google gets it wrong". THE MUNRO REVIEW. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ "Safiya U. Noble". annenberg.usc.edu. USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ Kaur, Bineet (23 April 2018). "Is Google's algorithm racially biased? This Fresno State alumna thinks so". The Collegian. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ "Spotlight on Safiya Umoja Noble". www.afro.illinois.edu. Department of African-American Studies - University of Illinois. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ McDonald, John. "Safiya Umoja Noble Receives Top Honor from Fresno State". ampersand.gseis.ucla.edu. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ a b Safiya, Noble (December 2012). Searching for black girls: old traditions in new media (Thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
- ^ a b Harmon, Joanie (15 July 2014). "Safiya U. Noble: Scholar of Critical Digital Media Studies Joins IS Faculty". ampersand.gseis.ucla.edu. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ "Awards – UCLA GSEIS Information Studies". is.gseis.ucla.edu. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Safiya Umoja Noble – Algorithms of Oppression – Open Data Manchester". www.opendatamanchester.org.uk. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Hellman Fellows » Safiya Noble". www.hellmanfellows.org. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ Noble, Safiya Umoja (2019). "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ "2017 MLA Annual Conference: Lunch Keynote with Dr. Safiya Umoja Nobl..." Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Safiya Noble (University of Southern California) - UCSD Design Lab". UCSD Design Lab. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "While Facebook works to create an oversight board, industry experts formed their own". NBC News. 25 September 2020.
- ^ "Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Discuss Misinformation With Silicon Valley's Biggest Critics". Time. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
- ^ EDT, Jack Royston On 8/27/20 at 3:47 AM (2020-08-27). "Meghan Markle praises Prince Harry as feminist father to Baby Archie". Newsweek. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "MacArthur Foundation Announces 2021 'Genius' Grant Winners". The New York Times. September 28, 2021. Retrieved September 28, 2021.
- ^ "Two New Senior Research Fellows to Join the Oxford Internet Institute — Oxford Internet Institute". www.oii.ox.ac.uk. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ Noble, Safiya (26 March 2018). "Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls". Time. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ "Frontier". Bitch Media (54). Spring 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ The intersectional Internet : race, sex, class and culture online. Noble, Safiya Umoja,, Tynes, Brendesha M. New York. 2016. ISBN 9781433130007. OCLC 918150002.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Emotions, technology, and health. Tettegah, Sharon Y.,, Garcia, Yolanda Evie. London. 2016-01-04. ISBN 9780128018392. OCLC 933834879.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "In 'Algorithms of Oppression,' Safiya Noble finds old stereotypes persist in new media". annenberg.usc.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ a b "Algorithms of Oppression | How Search Engines Reinforce Racism | Books - NYU Press | NYU Press". nyupress.org. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Google Has a Striking History of Bias Against Black Girls". Time. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Databite No. 109: Safiya Umoja Noble". Data & Society. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ Algorithms of Oppression
- ^ "Digital Infrastructures of Race and Gender - Still searching - Fotomuseum Winterthur". www.fotomuseum.ch. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Safiya U. Noble, Ph.D. – Stratelligence". stratelligence.net. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ UBC (2015-12-14), Safiya Umoja Noble - "Just Google It": Algorithms of Oppression, retrieved 2018-05-31
- ^ USC Annenberg (2018-02-28), Algorithms of Oppression: Faculty Focus: Safiya Umoja Noble, retrieved 2018-05-31
- ^ "Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism - Safiya Noble | Open Transcripts". Open Transcripts. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Digital Futures – Safiya Umoja Noble". www.concordia.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "CTRL+T podcast: Artificial intelligence may become a human rights issue – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
- ^ "Algorithms of Oppression: A talk by Safiya Umoja Noble, 8th May - HARTS.ONLINE News". HARTS.ONLINE News. 2018-05-06. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Scholia_logo.svg/40px-Scholia_logo.svg.png)
- Safiya Noble publications indexed by Google Scholar