Government Is Using Algorithms — Is It Assessing Bias?; Government Technology, December 10, 2018

Michaelle Bond, Government Technology; Government Is Using Algorithms — Is It Assessing Bias?

"“Data science is here to stay. It holds tremendous promise to improve things,” said Julia Stoyanovich, an assistant professor at New York University and former assistant professor in ethical data management at Drexel University. But policymakers need to use it responsibly.

“The first thing we need to teach people is to be skeptical about technology,” she said.

Data review boards, toolkits and software that cities, universities, and data analysts are starting to develop are steps in the right direction to spur policymakers to think critically about data, researchers said."

Wanted: The ‘perfect babysitter.’ Must pass AI scan for respect and attitude.; The Washington Post, November 23, 2018

Drew Harwell, The Washington Post; Wanted: The ‘perfect babysitter.’ Must pass AI scan for respect and attitude.

"Predictim’s chief and co-founder Sal Parsa said the company, launched last month as part of the University of California at Berkeley’s SkyDeck tech incubator, takes ethical questions about its use of the technology seriously. Parents, he said, should see the ratings as a companion that “may or may not reflect the sitter’s actual attributes.”...

...[T]ech experts say the system raises red flags of its own, including worries that it is preying on parents’ fears to sell personality scans of untested accuracy.

They also question how the systems are being trained and how vulnerable they might be to misunderstanding the blurred meanings of sitters’ social media use. For all but the highest-risk scans, the parents are given only a suggestion of questionable behavior and no specific phrases, links or details to assess on their own."

Our lack of interest in data ethics will come back to haunt us; TNW, November 3, 2018

Jayson Demers, TNW; Our lack of interest in data ethics will come back to haunt us

"Outreach and attention

We can’t solve these ethical dilemmas by issuing judgments or making a few laws. After all, ethical discussions rarely result in a simple understanding of what’s “right” and what’s “wrong.” Instead, we should be concentrating our efforts on raising awareness of these ethical dilemmas, and facilitating more open, progressive conversations.

We need to democratize the conversation by encouraging consumers to demand greater ownership, control, and/or transparency over their own data. We need to hold companies accountable for their practices before they get out of hand. And we need the data scientists, entrepreneurs, and marketers of the world to think seriously about the consequences of their data-related efforts — and avoid sacrificing ethical considerations in the name of profits."

Current Events Classroom lesson from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), re the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, October 30, 2018

Current Events Classroom lesson from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), re the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh:

[Kip Currier: I'm posting helpful information below, received from my former and now-retired University of Pittsburgh colleague Dr. Ellen Detlefsen, whose son David Reynolds works within the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) Education Division. As Ellen wrote:

"David...has put together a lesson plan and resource page about the tragedy in Pittsburgh.  He has asked us to share this widely, and we urge you to do the same!  Sadly, it is more needed now than ever, so please see that this is shared with teachers, preachers, health workers, and your friends, neighbors, and relatives!"] 

"ADL has a new HS Current Events Classroom lesson: Deadly Shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue.

 On the morning of October 27, at Sabbath services, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and yelled “All Jews must die,” then opened fire upon the congregants. He was armed with an assault rifle and several handguns and killed eleven congregants and wounded six others, four of whom are police officers.  When surrendering to law enforcement, Bowers told an officer that he “wanted all Jews to die” and that Jews “were committing genocide against his people.” This shooting is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the U.S. This lesson provides an opportunity for students to analyze this incident in the context of the shooter’s background and history of anti-Semitism, as well as the nationwide rise of anti-Semitic incidents over the last year.  In this lesson, students will learn more about the incident, understand and consider the larger context of anti-Semitism in the U.S., explore how the escalation of hate operates and how allyship can make a difference.

We also posted a new blog: The Week in Hate and Bias and How to Talk with Young People

Here is a landing page with all the related resources that I’ve been sending the past few days plus these—all in one place!  After the Deadly Shooting at a Pittsburgh Synagogue: Resources for Educators

Dave Reynolds, Director of Professional Development and Regional Support

40 Court St. Boston, MA 02108

t: 617.406.6345 | email: dreynolds@adl.org
adl.org"

Equity pending: Why so few women receive patents; The Christian Science Monitor, July 2, 2018

E'oin O'Carroll, The Christian Science Monitor; Equity pending: Why so few women receive patents

"The causes for the gender gap are varied and complex, but much of it can be explained by women’s underrepresentation in patent-intensive jobs, particularly engineering. Research shows women make up roughly 20 percent of graduates from engineering schools, but hold less than 15 percent of engineering jobs. Female engineering grads are not entering the field at the same rate as their male counterparts, and they are leaving in far greater numbers.

“It’s the climate,” says Nadya Fouad, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “The organizational environment is very unforgiving.”

Professor Fouad, who spent three years surveying women with engineering degrees about their career choices, cites inflexible schedules, a lack of opportunities for advancement, and incivility toward women. “It’s not the women’s fault,” she says, noting that she found no difference in levels of confidence in those who stayed and those who left.

Other barriers women face are an absence of supportive social networks and implicit bias on the part of venture capitalists."

A 'political hit job'? Why the alt-right is accusing big tech of censorship; Guardian, March 4, 2018

Jason Wilson, Guardian; A 'political hit job'? Why the alt-right is accusing big tech of censorship

"The cases help illustrate big tech’s current dilemma. While politicians and anti-racist campaigners are asking them to act more like publishers, and show some discernment about what they allow to be published, from the right, many are accusing them of censorious liberal bias, and demanding they wind back the few standards they have implemented. These protests have taken many forms, including the launch of alternative, rightwing social media platforms."

Atheists tend to be seen as immoral – even by other atheists: study; Agence France-Presse in Paris via Guardian, August 7, 2017

Agence France-Presse in Paris via Guardian; Atheists tend to be seen as immoral – even by other atheists: study

"“It is striking that even atheists appear to hold the same intuitive anti-atheist bias,” the study’s co-author, Will Gervais, a psychology professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said.

“I suspect that this stems from the prevalence of deeply entrenched pro-religious norms. Even in places that are currently quite overtly secular, people still seem to intuitively hold on to the believe that religion is a moral safeguard.”

Only in Finland and New Zealand, two secular countries, did the experiment not yield conclusive evidence of anti-atheist prejudice, said the team."

Can you teach ethics to algorithms?; CIO, May 15, 2017

James Maclennan, CIO; 

Can you teach ethics to algorithms?

"The challenges of privacy

Addressing bias is a challenge, but most people understand that discrimination and bias are bad. What happens when we get into trickier ethical questions such as privacy?

Just look at Facebook and Google, two companies that have mountains of information on you. A recent report uncovered that Facebook “can figure out when people as young as 14 feel ‘defeated,’ ‘overwhelmed’ and ‘a failure.’” This information is gathered by a Facebook analysis system, and it is really easy how such information could be abused.

The fact that the information uncovered by such an algorithm could be so easily abused does not make the algorithm morally wrong. Facebook decided to create the algorithm without considering the ethical implications of manipulating depressed teenagers to buy more stuff, and thus the responsibility falls on Facebook and not the algorithm. 

Facebook at minimum needs to encourage its own technological staff to think about the ethical consequences of any new algorithm they construct. If Facebook and other technological companies fail to consider protecting user privacy by constructing algorithms, then the government may have to step in to ensure the peoples’ rights are protected."

Scott Pelley is pulling no punches on the nightly news — and people are taking notice; Washington Post, March 26, 2017

Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post; Scott Pelley is pulling no punches on the nightly news — and people are taking notice

"Pelley, and others at CBS, declined to comment for this column, saying the work speaks for itself. There is clearly every wish to avoid setting up CBS as anti-Trump or as partisan.

But, accepting Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Award last November, Pelley tipped his hand: “The quickest, most direct way to ruin a democracy is to poison the information.”"

Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets; New York Times, 8/9/15

Anahad O'Connor, New York Times; Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets:

"Marion Nestle, the author of the book “Soda Politics” and a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, was especially blunt: “The Global Energy Balance Network is nothing but a front group for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola’s agenda here is very clear: Get these researchers to confuse the science and deflect attention from dietary intake.”

Funding from the food industry is not uncommon in scientific research. But studies suggest that the funds tend to bias findings. A recent analysis of beverage studies, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that those funded by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, the American Beverage Association and the sugar industry were five times more likely to find no link between sugary drinks and weight gain than studies whose authors reported no financial conflicts...

But much like the research on sugary drinks, studies of physical activity funded by the beverage industry tend to reach conclusions that differ from the findings of studies by independent scientists.

Last week, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana announced the findings of a large new study on exercise in children that determined that lack of physical activity “is the biggest predictor of childhood obesity around the world.”

The news release contained a disclosure: “This research was funded by The Coca-Cola Company.”"

Why Ethics Codes Fail; Inside Higher Ed, 7/21/15

Laura Stark, Inside Higher Ed; Why Ethics Codes Fail:

"Last week, an independent investigation of the American Psychological Association found that several of its leaders aided the U.S. Department of Defense’s controversial enhanced interrogation program by loosing constraints on military psychologists. It was another bombshell in the ongoing saga of the U.S. war on terror in which psychologists have long served as foot soldiers. Now, it appears, psychologists were among its instigators, too.

Leaders of the APA used the profession’s ethics policy to promote unethical activity, rather than to curb it. How? Between 2000 and 2008, APA leaders changed their ethics policy to match the unethical activities that some psychologists wanted to carry out -- and thus make potential torture appear ethical...

The APA’s current ethics mess is a problem inherent to its method of setting professional ethics policy and a problem that faces professional organizations more broadly. Professions’ codes of ethics are made to seem anonymous, dropped into the world by some higher moral authority. But ethics codes have authors. In the long term, the APA’s problems will not be solved by repeating the same process that empowers a select elite to write ethics policy, then removes their connection to it.

All ethics codes have authors who work to erase the appearance of their influence. Personal interests are inevitable, if not unmanageable, and it may be best for the APA -- and other professional groups -- to keep the link between an ethics policy and its authors. Take a new lesson from the Hippocratic oath by observing its name. The APA should make its ethics policies like most other papers that scientists write: give the code of ethics a byline."

Should a Student Conceal Her Lesbian Identity in College Application Essays?; New York Times, 12/3/13

Steven Petrow, New York Times; Should a Student Conceal Her Lesbian Identity in College Application Essays? : "Q. Dear Civil Behavior: Our daughter is a senior in high school and quite comfortable with her lesbian identity. We support her 100 percent, but we know the world is not always so tolerant. As she’s writing her college application essays this fall, she’s “coming out” in them — and we think that’s a bad idea. You just never know who’s reading these essays, so why risk revealing your orientation to someone who might be biased against you? We’ve strongly suggested she think over the ramifications of what she’s doing, but she doesn’t seem to have any doubt about it. Deadlines are approaching and we are at an impasse. How can we persuade her to keep some things private if they might hurt her chances of admission?” — Anonymous... A...The Common App invites applicants to share “a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it.” I can think of several such topics that may feel core to a high school senior. If your daughter had been adopted, had had a life-altering accident, or were biracial, would you discourage her from writing about it? I doubt it. As one gay student told me, “My parents did something similar and it gave me a sense of shame, that there was something wrong with me that needed to be hidden.” In the end, the strategic question probably can’t be definitely answered — nor may it be the best one to ask. In 20 years will she remember what her essay was about? I doubt it. As one mother wrote me, “In the end it actually matters very little what she decides to write in her application, but it matters a lot if she starts to think that her parents want her to hide who she is from the world.” Clearly you’ve given your daughter a strong sense of self and the confidence to be who she is, even if the world is not as tolerant as we’d all hope. Sure, one of a parent’s jobs is to worry, but after 17 or so years you can’t be there for every important decision in life. So, please reconsider what message you are sending to her when you ask her to conceal her identity."