Weizenbaum Library (Weizenbaum Institute)
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The connection of open science practices and the methodological approach of researchers
Get PDFThe Open Science movement is gaining tremendous popularity and tries to initiate changes in science, for example the sharing and reuse of data. The new requirements that come with Open Science poses researchers with several challenges. While most of these challenges have already been addressed in several studies, little attention has been paid so far to the underlying Open Science practices (OSP). An exploratory study was conducted focusing on the OSP relating to sharing and using data. 13 researchers from the Weizenbaum Institute were interviewed. The Weizenbaum Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute in Germany that was founded in 2017. To reconstruct OSP a grounded theory methodology (Strauss in Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987) was used and classified OSP into open production, open distribution and open consumption (Smith in Openness as social praxis. First Monday, 2017). The research shows that apart from the disciplinary background and research environment, the methodological approach and the type of research data play a major role in the context of OSP. The interviewees’ self-attributions related to the types of data they work with: qualitative, quantitative, social media and source code. With regard to the methodological approach and type of data, it was uncovered that uncertainties and missing knowledge, data protection, competitive disadvantages, vulnerability and costs are the main reasons for the lack of openness. The analyses further revealed that knowledge and established data infrastructures as well as competitive advantages act as drivers for openness. Because of the link between research data and OSP, the authors of this paper argue that in order to promote OSP, the methodological approach and the type of research data must also be considere
Why Organization Matters in “Algorithmic Discrimination”
Get PDFResearch into “algorithmic discrimination” has largely dismissed the fact that algorithms are often developed and used by organizations. In this article, we show that organizational sociology can contribute to a more nuanced perspective on “algorithmic decision-making.” Drawing on the concept of decision premises, we differentiate between various formal structures, particularly between different decision programs (conditional and purposive). This allows us to challenge two key assumptions, namely that human decision-makers rely heavily on algorithmically generated recommendations and that discrimination against protected groups needs to be solved mainly at the level of code. We identify the usefulness of distinguishing between conditional and purposive decision programs via a case study centered on the legal context: the risk assessment software “Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions” (COMPAS) that is employed in the US criminal justice system to inform judicial personnel about the recidivism risk of defendants. By analyzing the organizational structures, according to which the COMPAS score is formally and informally embedded in courts, we point out that the score represents an ambiguous and redundant information source for judges. The practice of minimizing the relevance of the score and decoupling it from the legal reasoning backstage particularly reflects the professional decision autonomy of judges, which is inherent in the legal system. The core finding of our approach is that strategies to reduce discrimination should not only scrutinize data quality or the statistical model but also consider the specific forms, functions, and consequences of the organizational structures that condition the ways in which discriminatory differences may or may not be (re)produced
The Nature and Persistence of Posthypnotic Suggestions' Effects on Food Preferences: An Online Study
Get PDFFood preferences are crucial for diet-related decisions, which substantially impact individual health and global climate. However, the persistence of unfavorable food preferences is a significant obstacle to changing eating behavior. Here we explored the effects of posthypnotic suggestions (PHS) on food-related decisions by measuring food choices, subjective ratings, and indifference points. In Session 1, demographic data and hypnotic susceptibility of participants were assessed. In Session 2, following hypnosis induction, PHS aiming to increase the desirability of healthy food was delivered. Afterward, a task set was administrated twice, once when PHS was activated and once deactivated. The order of PHS activation was counterbalanced across participants. The task set included a liking-rating task for 170 pictures of different food items, followed by an online supermarket where participants were instructed to select enough food for a fictitious week of quarantining from the same item pool. After 1 week, Session 3 repeated Session 2 without hypnosis induction in order to assess the persistence of PHS. The crucial dependent measures were food choices, subjective ratings, and the indifference points as a function of time and PHS conditio
How Right-Wing Populist Comments Affect Online Deliberation on News Media Facebook Pages
Get PDFRight‐wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right‐wing populism’s anti‐pluralist and conflict‐centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right‐wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so‐called “refugee crisis” of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right‐wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right‐wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right‐wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People‐centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti‐immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy
Einleitung: Entscheidungsträger im Internet: Private Entscheidungsstrukturen und Plattformregulierung
Get PDFDocumenting Data Production Processes: A Participatory Approach for Data Work
Get PDFThe opacity of machine learning data is a significant threat to ethical data work and intelligible systems. Previous research has addressed this issue by proposing standardized checklists to document datasets. This paper expands that field of inquiry by proposing a shift of perspective: from documenting datasets towards documenting data production. We draw on participatory design and collaborate with data workers at two companies located in Bulgaria and Argentina, where the collection and annotation of data for machine learning are outsourced. Our investigation comprises 2.5 years of research, including 33 semi-structured interviews, five co-design workshops, the development of prototypes, and several feedback instances with participants. We identify key challenges and requirements related to the integration of documentation practices in real-world data production scenarios. Our findings comprise important design considerations and highlight the value of designing data documentation based on the needs of data workers. We argue that a view of documentation as a boundary object, i.e., an object that can be used differently across organizations and teams but holds enough immutable content to maintain integrity, can be useful when designing documentation to retrieve heterogeneous, often distributed, contexts of data production
IDS as a Foundation for Open Data Ecosystems
Get PDFOpen data is a popular and flourishing concept. The availability of open and structured data is the foundation of new business models, citizen engagement, and scientific research. However, open data still faces many issues to unfold its full potential, including usability, quality, legal, privacy, strategic, and technical barriers. In addition, the public sector remains its main provider, while industry stakeholders are still reluctant to participate in open data ecosystems. In this article, we present an architecture to overcome these drawbacks by utilizing the concepts, specifications, and technologies provided by International Data Spaces. We developed a prototype to demonstrate and evaluate the practical adoption of our architecture. Our work shows that IDS can act a vital foundation for open data ecosystems. The presented solution is available as open source software
Modelling Spirals of Silence and Echo Chambers by Learning from the Feedback of Others
Get PDFWhat are the mechanisms by which groups with certain opinions gain public voice and force others holding a different view into silence? Furthermore, how does social media play into this? Drawing on neuroscientific insights into the processing of social feedback, we develop a theoretical model that allows us to address these questions. In repeated interactions, individuals learn whether their opinion meets public approval and refrain from expressing their standpoint if it is socially sanctioned. In a social network sorted around opinions, an agent forms a distorted impression of public opinion enforced by the communicative activity of the different camps. Even strong majorities can be forced into silence if a minority acts as a cohesive whole. On the other hand, the strong social organisation around opinions enabled by digital platforms favours collective regimes in which opposing voices are expressed and compete for primacy in public. This paper highlights the role that the basic mechanisms of social information processing play in massive computer-mediated interactions on opinions.This research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 732942 (www.Odycceus.eu (accessed on 20 March 2022))
Queere KI. Zum Coming-out smarter Maschinen
No full textGängige Formen von Diskriminierung sowie die Reproduktion normativer Stereotype sind auch bei künstlicher Intelligenz an der Tagesordnung. Die Beitragenden erläutern Möglichkeiten der Reduktion dieser fehlerhaften Verfahrensweisen und verhandeln die ambivalente Beziehung zwischen Queerness und KI aus einer interdisziplinären Perspektive. Parallel dazu geben sie einem queer-feministischen Wissensverständnis Raum, das sich stets als partikular, vieldeutig und unvollständig versteht. Damit eröffnen sie Möglichkeiten des Umgangs mit KI, die reduktive Kategorisierungen überschreiten können
Does Passive Social Media Use Harm Well-Being? An Adversarial Review
Get PDFResearch into the effects of social media on well-being often distinguishes “active” and “passive” use, with passive use supposedly more harmful to well-being (i.e., the passive use hypothesis). Recently, several studies and reviews have begun to question this hypothesis and its conceptual basis, the active/passive dichotomy. As this dichotomy has become a staple of social media research but evidence challenging its validity is mounting, a comprehensive debate on its pros, cons, and potential future is needed. This adversarial review brings together two voices – one more supportive, and the other more critical – toward the active/passive model. In constructive dialogue, we summarize and contrast our two opposing positions: The first position argues that the active/passive dichotomy is a useful framework because it adequately describes how and why passive use is (more) harmful for well-being. The second position challenges the validity of the dichotomy and the passive use hypothesis specifically. Arguments are presented alongside (a) the empirical basis, (b) conceptualization, and (c) operationalization of active and passive use, with particular focus on the passive use hypothesis. Rather than offering a conciliatory summary of the status quo, the goal of this review is to carve out key points of friction in the literature on the effects of social media through fruitful debate. We summarize our main agreements and unresolved disagreements on the merits and shortcomings of the active/passive dichotomy. In doing so, this review paves the way for researchers to decide whether and how they want to continue applying this lens in their future work