On Love, Data and Technologies Rooted in Care by Prof. Stephanie Dinkins

Many algorithmic technologies are rooted in methods that limit and cajole information from the first human and computational assumptions. We assess ourselves using false dichotomies that force inadequate choices building a world bereft of complexity and nuance. The disinclinations of our systems to cope with the unseen, the unknown, difference, and change limit possibilities for everyone.  

Through intelligent technologies --the ones that look like us, the ones that serve us, and the ones that do neither -- we have the ability to understand and organize human activity with complexity and broadly principled care.  So, why aren’t these the goals of our algorithmic doppelgangers, assistance, and technological ecosystems?   

Often envisioned outside the realm of what is technologically possible within artificial intelligence, care is an essential aspect of human information and resource-sharing networks that aid our survival.  Recognition of this idea raises questions such as how can we infuse -- cooperatively, adversarially, or fugitively—ecosystems we depend on as well as the people and institutions that currently hold power with ways of being, values, ethics, and knowledges they are blind to or don't understand?

This talk is open to the public please RSVP: https://siat-research-colloquium.eventbrite.ca

About Stephanie Dinkins:

Stephanie Dinkins is a transmedia artist who creates platforms for dialog about race, gender, aging, and our future histories. Dinkins’ art practice employs emerging technologies, documentary practices, and social collaboration toward equity and community sovereignty.  She is driven to work with communities of color to co-create more equitable, values grounded social and technological ecosystems.

Professor Dinkins teaches and conducts research at Stony Brook University where she holds the Kusama Endowed Professorship and Directs the Future Histories Studio.

Dinkins exhibits and publicly advocates for equitable AI internationally. Her work has been generously supported by fellowships, grants, and residencies from United States Artist, The Knight Foundation, Berggruen Institute, Onassis Foundation,  Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, Creative Capital, Sundance New Frontiers Story Lab, Eyebeam, Data & Society, Pioneer Works, NEW INC, and The Laundromat Project.

 

For more info on Stephanie Dinkins:

Website

https://www.stephaniedinkins.com

twitter

@dinkinsstudio

@stephdink 

instagram

dinkins.studio

stephanie.dinkins

 

Photo Credit: Stephanie Dinkins photographed by Jay Adams

Image description: A black woman of medium brown skin smiles broadly against a marine blue background. She has black shoulder-length locs and wears a sheer collarless,  pale green shirt adorned with flowers.