Could Counterfactuals Explain Algorithmic Decisions Without Opening the Black Box?

15 January 2018

Authors: Brent Mittelstadt

Algorithmic systems (such as those deciding mortgage applications, or sentencing decisions) can be very difficult to understand, for experts as well as the general public. Image: Ken Lane (CC ... Read More Could Counterfactuals Explain Algorithmic Decisions Without Opening the Black Box?

13 April 2017

Authors: Vili Lehdonvirta

shutterstock.com Platforms like eBay, Uber, Airbnb, and Freelancer are thriving, growing the digital economy and disrupting existing business. The question is how to ensure that the transformations they entail ... Read More Could universal basic income counter the gig economy’s problems?

9 January 2017

Authors: Helen Margetts

After Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, 2016 will be remembered as the year of cataclysmic democratic events on both sides of the Atlantic. Social media has been ... Read More Of course social media is transforming politics. But it’s not to blame for Brexit and Trump

7 December 2016

Authors: Brent Mittelstadt

The Facebook Wall, by René C. Nielsen (Flickr). A central ideal of democracy is that political discourse should allow a fair and critical exchange of ideas and values. But ... Read More Should there be a better accounting of the algorithms that choose our news for us?

15 November 2016

Authors: Philip Howard

Donald Trump in Reno, Nevada, by Darron Birgenheier (Flickr). This is the big year for computational propaganda — using immense data sets to manipulate public opinion over social media. Both the ... Read More Is Social Media Killing Democracy?

6 September 2016

Authors: Mark Graham

Call for Papers: Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting. April 5-9, 2017, Boston, MA The proposed Digital Geographies Working Group of the RGS/IBG and the proposed Digital Geographies Specialty ... Read More Digital\Human\Labour **Call for papers at the 2017 AAG meeting**

31 May 2016

Authors: Helen Margetts

The benefits of big data and data science for the private sector are well recognised. So far, considerably less attention has been paid to the power and potential of ... Read More Alan Turing Institute and OII: Summit on Data Science for Government and Policy Making

7 March 2016

Authors: Taha Yasseri

P-values are widely used in the social sciences, especially ‘big data’ studies, to calculate statistical significance. Yet they are widely criticized for being easily hacked, and for not telling us ... Read More P-values are widely used in the social sciences, but often misunderstood: and that’s a problem.

30 January 2013

Authors: Manuel Schaeffer

Algorithmic decision-making Throughout most of the 20th century, one leader or ruling party tried to frame the policy visions of the future and then act upon them. Mostly, ideology ... Read More The end of ideology? Big data and decision-making in politics