[OLA-IF-News] On biased algorithms

[Robertshaw, Brooke]

Hi all -
  One of the things I think a lot about is how statistics and quantitative methods can be used as tools for justice instead of continued to be used as tools for oppression. This era of the newness of big data is a great time to be thinking about this. My reading on all this has included, of course, work on algorithms and bias. I've come across some talks by folks that I thought might be of interest to folks interested in data and ethics and intellectual freedom.


Cathy O'Neil, author of "Weapons of Math Destruction"
TED Talk: "The era of blind faith in big data must end" - 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2u_eHHzRto

Algorithms decide who gets a loan, who gets a job interview, who gets insurance and much more -- but they don't automatically make things fair. Mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil coined a term for algorithms that are secret, important and harmful: "weapons of math destruction." Learn more about the hidden agendas behind the formulas.


“Algorithms don't make things fair if you just blithely, blindly apply algorithms. They repeat our past practices, our patterns. They automate the status quo.”


Safiya Noble, Assistant Prof in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA, "Challenging the algorithms of oppression" - 2016
Noble explains why we should care about commercial spaces dominating our information landscape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRVZozEEWlE

Joi Ito, manager of MIT's Media Lab
On Ammanpour & Co: Walter Isaacson sits down with Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab, to discuss some of the most complex moral problems facing tech innovators. -12 March 2019
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/joi-ito-of-mit-discusses-complex-moral-issues-in-new-tech/
"If your data is racist then your output will be racist. Society is racist, so by definition our algorithms will be racist. "


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M. Brooke Robertshaw, PhD
Assistant Professor & Assessment Librarian
Oregon State University Libraries & Press
121 The Valley Library
Corvallis, OR 97331
Office: (541) 737-1780
Mobile: (541) 870-6136
brooke.robertshaw at oregonstate.edu
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“Algorithms don't make things fair if you just blithely,

 blindly apply algorithms. They repeat our past

 practices, our patterns. They automate the status quo.”

      ~Cathy O’Neil, TED2017

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Library liason to the College of Education
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