Algorithmic Accountability. Computational Journalism week 9

FrontiersofComputationalJournalism

ColumbiaJournalismSchool

Week9:AlgorithmicAccountabilityNovember13,2015

Whattypesofalgorithmscanhavelargeconsequencesforsomeone'slife?

Algorithmsinourlives• Personalizedsearch• Politicalmicrotargeting• Creditscore/loans/insurance• Predictivepolicing• Pricediscrimination• Algorithmictrading/markets• Terroristthreatprediction• Hiringmodels

Frommyfico.com

PredictedcrimetimesandlocationsinthePredPol system.

AllTheStops,ThomasRhiel,Bklynr.com,2012

TitleVIIofCivilRightsAct,1964Itshallbeanunlawfulemploymentpracticeforanemployer-

(1)tofailorrefusetohireortodischargeanyindividual,orotherwisetodiscriminateagainstanyindividualwithrespecttohiscompensation,terms,conditions,orprivilegesofemployment,becauseofsuchindividual’srace,color,religion,sex,ornationalorigin;or

(2)tolimit,segregate,orclassifyhisemployeesorapplicantsforemploymentinanywaywhichwoulddepriveortendtodepriveanyindividualofemploymentopportunitiesorotherwiseadverselyaffecthisstatusasanemployee,becauseofsuchindividual’srace,color,religion,sex,ornationalorigin.

LearningfromFacebooklikes

FromKosinskiet.al.,Privatetraitsandattributesarepredictablefromdigital recordsofhumanbehavior

PredictinggenderfromTwitter

FromZamalet.al.,HomophilyandLatentAttributeInference:InferringLatentAttributesofTwitterUsersfromNeighbors

PredictingracefromTwitter

FromPennacchiottiandPopescu,AMachineLearningApproach toTwitterUserClassification

Eveniftwogroupsofthepopulation admitsimpleclassifiers,thewholepopulationmaynot(fromHowBigDataisUnfair)

WebsitesVaryPrices,DealsBasedonUsers' InformationValentino-Devries,Singer-VineandSoltani,WSJ,2012

MessageMachineJeffLarson,AlShaw,ProPublica,2012

HowUbersurgepricingreallyworks,NickDiakopolous