Weizenbaum Library (Weizenbaum Institute)
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The Image of Man in Artificial Intelligence: A Conversation with Joseph Weizenbaum
Get PDFJoseph Weizenbaum fled from the Nazis to the USA, later studying mathematics and becoming a professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He became famous for the Eliza program, which simulates a psychotherapist who—apparently at least—tries to understand its client psychologically, and which became a very early example of chatbots simulating human language. His research led Weizenbaum to a critical attitude toward the possibilities, limits and uses of computers. His main work, “The Power of Computers and the Powerlessness of Reason”, dealt with the effects of computers on the world of human experience—at that time a new and, in its explosiveness, still largely unknown topic. This text makes available in English for the first time an interview with Joseph Weizenbaum conducted in 1998. The interview focuses on the development of artificial intelligence, arguments about analogies between human and artificial intelligence, and perspectives on critical thinking about the relationship between humans and computers.This publication has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII121, 16DII122, 16DII123, 16DII124, 16DII125, 16DII126, 16DII127, 16DII128 – “Deutsches Internet-Institut”)
Open and Responsible Data Governance for Digital Sequence Information: Policy Paper in View of the Ongoing Process under the Convention for Biological Diversity to Establish a Benefit-Sharing Mechanism for Digital Sequence
Get PDFOpen and Responsible Data Governance is a promising concept to help operationalize the FAIR and CARE principles for DSI-specific data governance. While the CARE principles ensure indigenous data sovereignty is respected, the FAIR principles ensure that monetary benefits from the use of DSI are generated and form a part of resource mobilization for the conservation of biodiversity.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
News snacking and political learning: changing opportunity structures of digital platform news use and political knowledge
Get PDFThe increasing prevalence of news snacking – that is, the brief, intermittent attendance to news in mainly digital and mobile media contexts – has been discussed as a problematic behavior potentially leading to a less informed public. Empirical research, however, that investigates the relationship between news snacking and political knowledge is sparse. Against the background of changed opportunity structures in increasingly digital and mobile media environments, this study investigates how news snacking relates to the breadth and depth of political knowledge in society. Based on an online survey of the German population (N = 558), we examine how snacking news affects political event and background knowledge gains using different digital news platforms. Results show that users who exhibit high levels of news snacking learn substantially less from news use across different types of digital platforms
TechDo Digest 1x4: September 2023
No full textThe TechDo Digest is the literature overview of the research group "Technology, Power and Domination" at the Weizenbaum Institute. Every two to three months, the group curates a list of relevant new publications within their field, focussing on analyses of structures of power and domination in digitalized societies, changes to democratic processes, regulation of and through technology, and the contestation of digital technologies. This edition features articles that appeared between July and September 2023.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Was die Wissenschaft im Rahmen des Datenzugangs nach Art. 40 DSA braucht: 20 Punkte zu Infrastrukturen, Beteiligung, Transparenz und Finanzierung
Get PDFArtikel 40 des Digital Services Act (DSA) schafft erstmals eine klare Regelung, die der Wissenschaft Unabhängigkeit von den einzelnen Plattformen und eine verbesserte Datenqualität gewährt und so sicherstellt, dass gesellschaftlich relevante Aspekte der Digitalisierung angemessen, konsistent und unabhängig untersucht werden können. Er ermöglicht, schneller und passgenau auf neue Fragestellungen und Entwicklungen evidenzbasiert zu reagieren und so zu einer fairen, digitalen Öffentlichkeit beizutragen, die sowohl gesellschaftliche Risiken als auch ihre Chancen in den Blick nimmt. Dieses Policy Paper zielt darauf, den erwarteten Delegated Act der EU-Kommission als auch das Gesetzgebungsverfahren zum deutschen Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz zu informieren und Notwendigkeiten aus Sicht von Plattformforschenden zu formulieren. Diese Sichtweise ist von größter Bedeutung, da von der Expertise wissenschaftlicher Akteure die Erforschung der systemischen Risiken abhängt.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
»Schöne neue Lieferkettenwelt«: Workers’ Voice und Arbeitsstandards in Zeiten algorithmischer Vorhersage
Get PDFResumeTailor: Improving Resume Quality Through Co-Creative Tools
Get PDFClear and well-written resumes can help jobseekers find better and better-suited jobs. However, many people struggle with writing their resumes, especially if they just entered the job market. Although many tools have been created to help write resumes, an analysis we conducted showed us that these tools focus mainly on layout and only give very limited content-related support. This paper presents a co-creative resume building tool that provides tailored advice to jobseekers. It is based on a comprehensive computational analysis of 444k resumes and the development of a Dutch language model, ResumeRobBERT, to provide contextual suggestions. Through the analysis of the resumes, we found that some expected sections, such as language proficiency, are often missing entirely, while conversely some resumes contain unexpected content, such as negative personality traits. This implies that jobseekers could benefit from more guidance when writing resumes. We aim to support them in the resume-writing process through our tool ResumeTailor, a co-creative resume building tool that gives textual suggestions and provides a template for important resume sections
Datafication Markers: Curation and User Network Effects on Mobilization and Polarization During Elections
Get PDFSocial media platforms are crucial sources of political information during election campaigns, with datafication processes underlying the algorithmic curation of newsfeeds. Recognizing the role of individuals in shaping datafication processes and leveraging the metaphor of news attraction, we study the impact of user curation and networks on mobilization and polarization. In a two-wave online panel survey (n = 943) conducted during the 2021 German federal elections, we investigate the influence of self-reported user decisions, such as following politicians, curating their newsfeed, and being part of politically interested networks, on changes in five democratic key variables: vote choice certainty, campaign participation, turnout, issue reinforcement, and affective polarization. Our findings indicate a mobilizing rather than polarizing effect of algorithmic election news exposure and highlight the relevance of users’ political networks on algorithmic platforms.This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, funding code 16DII114
Open Hardware and Scientific Autonomy in Germany: How Transfer Activities Can Become More Attractive
Get PDFThis work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
Rethinking Transparency as a Communicative Constellation
Get PDFIn this paper we make the case for an expanded understanding of transparency. Within the now extensive FAccT literature, transparency has largely been understood in terms of explainability.
While this approach has proven helpful in many contexts, it falls short of addressing some of the more fundamental issues in the development and application of machine learning, such as the epistemic limitations of predictions and the political nature of the selection of fairness criteria. In order to render machine learning systems more democratic, we argue, a broader understanding of transparency is needed. We therefore propose to view transparency as a communicative constellation that is a precondition for meaningful democratic deliberation. We discuss four perspective expansions implied by this approach and present a case study illustrating the interplay of heterogeneous actors involved in producing this constellation. Drawing from our conceptualization of transparency, we sketch implications for actor groups in different sectors of society