Week 7 Communication and Technology

Question 1

Historians of technology emphasize that technologies are imagined, developed, and implemented through a complex sequence of ___________ and _________, often unspoken

Answer 1

social practices; negotiations

Question 2

What is technology?

Answer 2

• Discloses and transforms natural order
• Is a transformational process
• Embodies knowledge
• Is a certain kind of knowledge

Basically an invention with function

Question 3

Rather than isolate the isolate the “effects” of technology upon a society, the goal for this approach is to unravel __________ upon the development of a technology and to illuminate the social contexts in which it operates. Technology undoubtly produces some effect on society, but the overall relationship is __________, not one-sided

Answer 3

the influence of society; dialectical

Question 4

Marvin: When Old Technologies Were New:

[This study] argues that the early history of _______ is less the evolution of technical efficiencies in communication than a series of arenas for ___________________; among them, who is inside and outside, who may speak, who may not, and who has authority and may be believed. Changes in the speed, capacity, and performance of communication devices tell us little about these questions. At best, they provide cover of functional meanings beneath which social meanings can elaborate themselves undisturbed

Answer 4

electric; negotiating issues crucial to the conduct of social life

Question 5

The features of technology that direct us– not force us— down a certain path are what scholars of technology often call _________, the opportunities for action that a particular thing or particular environment provides

Answer 5

affordances

Question 6

Algorithmic oppression is not just a glitch in the system but, rather, is __________

Answer 6

fundamental to the operating system of the web

Question 7

There is a missing ________________ in some types of
algorithmically driven decision making, and this matters for
everyone engaging with these types of technologies in everyday life

Answer 7

social and human context

Question 8

While we often think of terms such as “big data” and
“algorithms” as being benign, neutral, or objective, they are
anything but. The people who make these decisions hold all
types of values, many of which openly promote ____________, which is well documented in studies of Silicon Valley and other tech corridors

Answer 8

• Racism
• Sexism
• False notions of meritocracy

Question 9

What goes into an algorithm?

Answer 9

• Scientists’ prior belief of what data should look like
• Computing the relationship between each observation
• Mathematical equation representing relationship
• Updating framework as more data is integrated

Question 10

Algorithm as a recipe:

what is the dish? what are the ingredients?

Answer 10

• Ingredients: data
• Dish: model that can make predictions about the future

Question 11

What is algorithmic bias?

A __________ in predictive computation. In some contexts, the term bias describes ___________ that predictive models make because of code bugs, poor model selection, inappropriate optimization metrics, or suppressed data.

Answer 11

systematic error; statistical mistakes

Question 12

What is algorithmic bias?

_____________ whereby unfair outcomes privilege one arbitrary group of people over another. In this definition, the focus is on
the disparate impact technology may have that reinforces social biases based on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, and disability

Answer 12

computational discrimination

Question 13

Types of biases

Answer 13

• Pre-existing
• Technical
• Emergent

Question 14

Pre-existing bias

Answer 14

Roots in social institutions, practices, and attitudes

Question 15

Technical bias AKA statistical bias

Answer 15

Technical constraints of consideration

Question 16

Emergent bias

Answer 16

Arise in a context of use, which could also be included in societal bias. Is introduced when a machine learning model is used inappropriately or outside the context for which it was intended

Question 17

Intersectional Social Justice Framework

We are arguing that any algorithms that perpetuate the status
quo and do not improve social equity for people of color,
women, the poor and working class, those with disabilities, and
other marginalized groups are biased. Further, we hold that any
attempt to do data science in an “apolitical” way is ________________, because data science as currently practiced has shown time and time again to harm vulnerable communities. In other words, we center justice in our definition of algorithmic bias. Machine learning and AI should not only work equally well for all people, but all software should also aspire to support a larger struggle for economic, racial, and gender equity.

Answer 17

inherently politically conservative

Question 18

What are the types of algorithmic biases?

Answer 18

• Historical
• Representation
• Measurement
• Aggregation
• Evaluation
• Deployment

Question 19

Historical bias: arises when there is misalignment between what two objects to be encoded and propagated into a model

Answer 19

the world as it is and values or objectives

It is a normative concern with the state of the world. It exists even with perfect sampling and feature selection

Question 20

Measurement bias: arises when _________________ . Variables
themselves are often proxies for the desired quantities, not
a pure measurement of a construct

Answer 20

choosing and measuring features and labels to use

Variables themselves are often proxies for the desired quantities, not
a pure measurement of a construct

Question 21

Representation bias: arises while _____________ on which you will train a model

Answer 21

defining and sampling a population

It occurs when the training population under-
represents, and subsequently fails to generalize well, for some
part of the use population.

Question 22

Aggregation bias: arises during ___________,
when distinct populations are inappropriately
combined

Answer 22

model construction

Question 23

Evaluation bias: occurs during _____________

It can arise when the testing or external benchmark populations _________________ or from the use of __________ that are
not appropriate for the way in which the model will be
used

Answer 23

model iteration and evaluation

do not equally represent the various parts of the user population

performance metrics

Question 24

Deployment bias: occurs after model deployment, when_______________

Answer 24

a system is used or interpreted in inappropriate ways

Question 25

Vaidhyanathan: Antisocial Media

What are the basic criticisms?

Answer 25

• Spreading misinformation without accepting editorial responsibility
• Fires up emotion by design; doesn’t offer checks and balances
• Creates filter bubbles and echo chambers

Bottom line: “Facebook makes it harder for diverse groups of people to gather and conduct calm, informed, productive conversations.”

Question 26

“If you wanted to build a machine that would distribute propaganda to millions of people, distract them from important issues, energize
hatred and bigotry, erode social trust, undermine journalism, foster
doubts about science, and engage in massive surveillance all at once,
you would make something a lot like
Facebook.” (p.19)

What issue is this quote describing?

Answer 26

Individual Gain –Collective Damage

Question 27

Problems with techno-fundamentalism

Answer 27

• Technology as singular cause for societal change (both good and bad)
• Neglect social, economic, and political factors

Question 28

• Code is shaped by people and people are shaped by code
• Media systems shape human relations as much as human relations shape media
• Technology is embedded in culture; culture is shaped by technology

What concept is illustrated here?

Answer 28

Reflexivity