February 6-7, 2022
Feb. 6, 2022 |
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Panel 1:4:00 pm - 5:30 pm (Doha time) “Transnational Dynamics and International Politics: How are Evolving Big Power Politics Impacting the Middle East” |
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Panel 2:6:00-7:30pm (Doha time) “Analyzing the MENA Social Dynamics Using NLP and Big Data Methods” |
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Eric AtwellProfessor of Artificial Intelligence for Language, School of Computing, University of Leeds: Biography: https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/staff/33/dr_eric_atwell “Understanding the Quran: A Challenge for Artificial Intelligence” Abstract: We can apply AI to analyse different perspectives on teaching about the Qur’an, Middle East Studies, and University education in general. Our “Decolonizing Reading Lists” project at Leeds University questions the Western or colonial bias in university teaching, and specifically in sources of recommended reading. We are developing an AI tool to assess the diversity of author affiliations and origins for reading list items, as a first step towards a tool to assess the diversity of conceptual viewpoints in university teaching. We are building on exploratory work at Leeds University and Imperial College, London. As an example, we examined taught modules at Leeds University on understanding the Qur’an and Hadith: “ARAB2320 The Qur’an History, Text and Interpretation”; and “ARAB5070M The Hadith History, Criticism and Canonisation”. We aimed to analyse the module Reading Lists on the library website. However, for both modules, the library website returned “list not available”, a common data acquisition problem. Many lecturers choose to recommend reading to students directly rather than using the library IT system. Some other modules related to Islamic and Middle East Studies do have Reading Lists available: “THEO1015: Introduction to the Study of Islam” has 47 recommended books and other literature in its Reading List. Classification of the Reading List item author names showed 12 Arab authors and 33 Western authors (plus two encyclopaedias); indicating a Western bias in the taught content of “THEO1015: Introduction to the Study of Islam”. The classifier can make mistakes; for example, a woman can take her husband’s surname on marriage, so surname is not a perfect indicator of ethnicity or cultural perspective. More importantly, the diversity of author names or origins is not a perfect predictor of diversity of conceptual viewpoints in university teaching. We need to find more intelligent and accurate ways to identify and measure bias in reading lists and university teaching, including teaching about understanding the Qur’an and Islam; this is a hard challenge for Artificial Intelligence. |
Feb. 07, 2022 |
Panel 3:4:00-5:30pm (Doha time) “Society, Cities, and Space in the MENA Region” |
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Panel 4:6:00-7:30pm (Doha time) “Knowledge and Power in Palestine: The Quest for Statehood and the Marginalization of Rights” |
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