Career & Tools
Join us for our first Lunch & Learn of the summer! For our July event, you'll be treated to talks by graduate students in Comparative Literature and Geography -- all while enjoying free lunch. Sign up today!
Join us for our July âLunch & Learn featuring talks and performances by graduate students in âComparative Literature and Geography! Lunch & Learn is co-sponsored by the Graduate Division, the Graduate Student Association, and the UCSB Library. âFeed your mind and your stomach while socializing with grad students from across the campus!
Lunch & Learn
This Edition: âGatekeeping and Geography
Wednesday, July 11
12-1 p.m.
Library, Room 1312 (map)
Lunch will be provided
*To help us estimate food, âplease RSVP*
Digital Rhetoric and Gatekeepers of Knowledge: Islamic Authority in America
Ali Rahman
Graduate Student in Comparative Literature
This project explores the creation, maintenance, and subversion of Islamic authority in the United States through digital rhetoric. The ongoing negotiation of who gets to be an expert and on what is shaping what can now be considered normative/mainstream religion for Muslims, and in a larger sense what is considered the truth in a "post-truth" society. My research has highlighted a penchant for the aesthetics of digital persuasion and an overconfidence in the ability to evaluate online Islamic information, sources, and authority. Even digitally native millennials have been found to overestimate their informational literacy as seen in studies of college students and my own work. The broader goal of this project is to further examine the impact of digital rhetoric on knowledge and gatekeeping in the information age, and how it impacts society as a whole.
Ridehailing services (provided by companies such as Uber and Lyft) and soon autonomous vehicles are revolutionizing urban transportation in the United States. In my dissertation I explore the operational and dimensions of these services. First, I shall discuss the spatiotemporal statistical and optimization models that I will be looking at to model the demand and supply of these systems. Second, I discuss some important institutional and economic challenges facing these new transportation services.
This event will be moderated byâ âJane Faulkner, who is in charge of outreach and academic collaboration at the UCSB Library.
Interested in being a presenter at an upcoming Lunch & Learn? Click here to find out more! If you have any questions about this event or Lunch & Learn in general, please email Daina Tagavi.