When: Thursday, November 23, 2017 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room 301, 1961 East Mall
The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at UBC, is pleased to welcome Dr. Lisa Nathan, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the First Nations Curriculum Concentration, School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, as a speaker in our Winter 2017 Colloquium program. She will be speaking on the topic of “Humility, Discomfort & Awe: Developing human capacities through information system design”.
Registration is not necessary and the talk is open to all interested members of the community. Light refreshments will be served.
Abstract
Critical challenges, unlikely to be resolved in a single human lifespan, face peoples around the world. Attending to the effects of colonization, genocide and climate change are a few of the harsh realities facing future generations. Dr. Nathan lays the groundwork for a discussion of how longer-term, aspirational thinking can reorient how we design and interact with information systems. She provides examples of people leveraging information systems to: 1) expand the potential of the human psyche; 2) enrich social fabrics; 3) envision beyond the human lifespan; and 4) disrupt institutionalized, infrastructural, and systemic inequalities. She argues for the need to cultivate our capacities to engage in difficult conversations rather than continuing the trend of delegating ethical decision making to algorithms hidden from view.
Bio
Dr. Lisa Nathan is Associate Professor at the iSchool@UBC (School of Library Archival and Information Studies, University of British Columbia). She collaborates with inspiring, insightful people to (re)imagine and (re)design information practices—ways we manage information—to address long-term challenges (e.g., decolonization, social justice, environmental resilience). Dr. Nathan is Coordinator for the iSchool’s First Nations Concentration. She teaches in the areas of information policy and Indigenous initiatives.