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SUMMARY:How can public interest journalism hold algorithms to account?  Th
 e challenges of transparency in the digital age - Nick Diakopoulos (Univer
 sity of Maryland)
DTSTART:20170323T113000Z
DTEND:20170323T153000Z
UID:TALK71169@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Olivier Driessens
DESCRIPTION:A workshop organised by the Ethics of Big Data Research Group 
 and the Politics and Paradoxes of Transparency Research Group\n\n23 March 
 2017\nS1\, Alison Richard Building\, University of Cambridge\nPlease regis
 ter online in advance as spaces are limited:\n11.30 am – 3.30pm\n\nThe i
 ncreasing use of algorithms throughout the public and private sectors to i
 nform decisions about access to services\, allocation of resources\, consu
 mer credit and even criminal sentencing poses many challenges. While the a
 doption of Big-Data driven systems has been praised by some as a potential
  means to reduce inefficiencies\, journalists and researchers have uncover
 ed evidence that reliance on algorithms can amplify\, rather than reduce s
 tructural bias on grounds of race\, gender and social class.\n\nThis works
 hop will investigate what role journalism can play in uncovering and unpac
 king algorithms and explore the skills\, resources and methods required to
  hold algorithms and their owners to account.\n\nDraft programme\nSession 
 1 - 11.30 – 1pm\nAlgorithmic Accountability and Transparency: A View fro
 m Computational Journalism\nKeynote presentation: Nick Diakopoulos\, Unive
 rsity of Maryland\n\nAlgorithms are coming to adjudicate decisions in near
 ly all facets of the public and private sectors. But despite the potential
  for efficiency gains\, algorithms fed by big data can also amplify struct
 ural discrimination or produce errors that deny services to individuals --
  the close monitoring of such systems is paramount. Algorithmic accountabi
 lity reporting is a new form of computational journalism that is emerging 
 to apply the core journalistic functions of watchdogging and investigative
  reporting to algorithms. In this talk I will discuss how algorithmic acco
 untability reporting is used by journalists as a method for articulating t
 he power structures\, biases\, and influences that computational artifacts
  play in society. I'll trace various legal\, technical\, and regulatory ch
 allenges that remain\, offering new openings for the development of tools 
 and approaches. Finally\, I will discuss the mandate for transparency of a
 lgorithms and proffer for discussion an initial transparency standard that
  delineates the dimensions of algorithms that might be productively disclo
 sed while acknowledging mediating concerns.\n\nAbout the speaker: Nicholas
  Diakopoulos is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland\, Col
 lege Park Philip Merrill College of Journalism with courtesy appointments 
 in the College of Information Studies and Department of Computer Science. 
 He is Director of the Computational Journalism Lab at UMD\, a member of th
 e Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) at UMD\, a Tow Fellow at Columbia 
 University School of Journalism\, and Associate Professor II at the Univer
 sity of Bergen Department of Information Science and Media Studies. His re
 search is in computational and data journalism with emphases on algorithmi
 c accountability and social computing in the news. He received his Ph.D. i
 n Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tec
 h where he co-founded the program in Computational Journalism. Before UMD 
 he worked as a researcher at Columbia University\, Rutgers University\, an
 d CUNY studying the intersections of computing\, information science\, and
  journalism.\n\nLunch\n1-1.30pm\n\nSession 2\n1.30 – 2.30pm\nBreakout se
 ssions:\nParticipants will collaboratively investigate the use of algorith
 ms at various levels of UK government by running targeted search queries o
 n governmental sites. Potential leads will be fleshed out with a set of we
 ll-defined metadata that help orient and situate the algorithm in terms of
  how it's used and how it may matter to the public. The appropriateness of
  applying various methods for undertaking investigation of the found algor
 ithms will be discussed.\n\nSession 3\n2.30 – 3.30pm\nRoundtable discuss
 ion with Jonathan Gray\, Liliana Bounegru and Nick Diakopoulos\nTitle tbc
LOCATION: Room SG1\, Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, C
 B3 9DT
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