International Week brings in renowned filmmaker
Activist Shalini Kantayya was the keynote speaker to kick off the five-day event
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SUMMARY: Shalini Kantayya fulfills her activism through films that focus on environmental disparities, racial biases in artificial intelligence and harmful algorithms. During International Week, she spoke about the impact of her work.
On Sept. 23, environmental activist Shalini Kantayya stressed the importance of “crossing cultural boundaries and having conversations with civility” as part of her keynote address during International Week at JMU.
This throughline inspires the films Kantayya produces.
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“Data [has become] the new oil.” — Shalini Kantayya, filmmaker and activist |
Her first documentary, A Drop of Life, focuses on two women on opposite sides of the world who bond over the clean-water crisis. She discussed how the film sparked conversations about water resources in Africa to enact change.
Another one of her films, Coded Bias, follows the story of student researcher Joy Buolamwini at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Buolamwini was conducting a research project using artificial intelligence when she realized the technology couldn’t recognize her face because of her darker skin color. Buolamwini could only get the technology to work for her if she put on a white mask that wasn’t even humanlike.
Kantayya warned that the FBI and police use similar biased technology, and normally no one in the Black community is included in overseeing these technologies.
She also raised the issue of how internet algorithms can be harmful to individuals in society. Her film TikTok, Boom,which she showed for 30 minutes, explores the power and complexity of technology through the lens of TikTok and Generation Z influencers, like Feroza Aziz.
The film exposes TikTok’s shadow ban on creators who discuss topics that the company doesn’t approve of. Aziz, for example, spoke out in protest of Chinese detention camps, and TikTok removed the video.
Kantayya shared concerns surrounding what happens when a company outside of the U.S. has access to personal data. President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump and members of Congress have called for the banning of TikTok due to its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance.
Data is “the new oil,” Kantayya said, because of how valuable it is to those who exploit it.
When confronted with the dangers of internet algorithms, Kantayya said she often hears people say, “I have nothing to hide; let them take my data.” She explained how technology can create complete psychological profiles of people, and then buy and sell that data.
Whether it’s through the arts, technology or activism, Kantayya reminded the audience that “everyday people change the world.”
