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Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping the future of information seeking, discovery, and curation. While AI may claim to make these practices easier, many scholars have been raising essential questions about the the nature of this technology and its implications for racial justice, political polarization, and privacy in the information ecosystem.

AI Infodemic: Interrogating Algorithms of Information Seeking was created to bring librarians and other information professionals together to discuss how these issues relate to our field. In Spring 2021, we surveyed foundational readings and other media related to the topic of AI and information systems, data, curation, classification, and discovery. Summer 2021 featured several scholars in our Early Career Speaker Series.

In Spring 2022, the Infodemic returns with an all new reading group focused on the evolving relationship between library work and technology in a broader culture of surveillance. Participants will engage with ongoing debates on patron privacy, library analytics, and professional legitimization in the face of pressure to collect increasingly more data on library users. The Spring 2022 reading group will meet in-person in Main Library Room 428, Thursday afternoons from 4-5pm.

AI Infodemic: Interrogating Algorithms of Information Seeking is sponsored by the HRI Research Cluster: AI & Society: Privacy, Ethics and (Dis)Information.

Co-organizers: Danny Mendelson (MLS Student) & Lisa Hinchliffe (Library Faculty)

Previous Organizers: Sarah Appedu