Topic

As part of the increasingly personalised service offering of online platforms, algorithmic systems such as personalised product recommendations, news feeds and search results have come to dominant the online experiences of many users. Despite the ubiquity of their application however, awareness about algorithmic systems remains very low, and often confused.

The EPSRC funded UnBias project has spent the last two years engaging with young people (13-17 years old) and industry, civil-society and academic stakeholders to better understand the needs and concerns regarding awareness of algorithmic systems and their characteristics. Based on this outcomes of this work UnBias produce a set of “Awareness Cards” that are part of an algorithmic “Fairness Toolkit” for online platforms.

Format

This workshop will be in interactive session aimed at exploring awareness building around the use of algorithms in online platforms, through the use of the UnBias Awareness Cards. A facilitator from the UnBias team, Liz Dowthwaite, will introduce the awareness cards and invite everyone to take part in activities designed to encourage critical and civic thinking for exploring how decisions are made by algorithms, and the impact that these decisions may have on our lives and the lives of others.

Agenda

18:00 – 18:30 Arrival and Welcome

18:30 – 18:50 Opening remarks and Introduction (20 minutes)

18:50 – 20:30 Small group activities using the cards

1. Case study – based around real examples of bias (40 minutes)
2. Exercise – Explore how bias, trust, prejudice, unfairness and discrimination operate (30 minutes)
3. Process – Be the algorithm. Consider the inputs, steps and factors which influence an algorithm and the consequences of its decisions (30 minutes)

20:30 – 21:00 Whole group feedback and discussion (30 minutes)

Time: November 30th 2018, 18:00 to 21:00 (UTC), London

Place: Cloudflare offices, 25 Lavington Street, Southwark, London

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