Library & Information Studies 202: Information Divides & Differences in a Multicultural Society
This course explores the impact of and barriers to access to information on the lives of minoritized communities in the United States. You will discuss issues relating to information inequalities, differences or “digital divides” in the U.S. with particular attention to underrepresented groups in the Northern Midwest including African-American, Native-American, Hmong, and Latinos/as. Information inequalities include disparities in awareness of, ownership of, access to, and use of various information and communication technologies for the purposes of health, education, economic development, and social expression.
Meme Assignment
Created by Liuhan (Laura) Chen
This Meme is inspired by one of the important reading from our class, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil. This meme is based on the quote from the book that used the examples of “poptarts” and “healthy meal” to express the idea that models are not neutral or objective. They reflect the goals, values, and ideologies of the people who create them.
News Article Analysis
The main objective for the News Article Analysis is to connect class themes to current news.
Ava Paley chose an article from The Week called “How Content Creators Cope With Discriminatory Algorithms” written by Theara Coleman. In her article analysis, she discusses the racial assumptions in algorithmic training data, and race, and discrimination in the technology industry.
