2022 Annual Grafstein Lecture

Thursday, March 10, 2022 - 17:00

2022 Grafstein Lecture

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Abstract

The Internet is for advertising. We recognize today that most of our largest technology platform companies are advertising companies that have transformed the Internet into a scramble for visibility and platforms for target marketing. But how does racialized target marketing and advertising - a mainstay of the advertising industry since the 1960s - differently impact people and communities of color in our present era when marketing data, strategy, ad distribution and product visibility are structured and mediated by algorithms and interlocking ad tech infrastructures? And can - and if so how - might public policy help to mitigate such impacts?

Bio

Author of the recent book, Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, From the Afronet to Black Lives Matter, Dr. Charlton McIlwain is Vice Provost for Faculty Development & Engagement at New York University, and Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU Steinhardt. He works at the intersections of computing technology, race, inequality, and racial justice activism. He has served as an expert witness in landmark U.S. Federal Court cases on reverse redlining/racial targeting in mortgage lending, and recently testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services about the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence on the financial services sector. He writes regularly for outlets such as The Guardian, Slate's Future Tense, MIT Technology Review and other outlets about the intersection of race and technology. McIlwain is the founder of the Center for Critical Race & Digital Studies, heads NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology, is NYU’s Designee to the Public Interest Technology University Network, is a board member at Data& Society Research Institute and chairs the board of the Washington Center for Technology Policy Inclusion

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