How can we pair up the smart search and emerging AIs with the pretty
darn good resourcefulness of other humans? Even if you're a little cold on
this idea, it would be a small stop gap until the (hopefully altruistic)
AI's appear. :)
[0]
Yours,
Chris Koerner
Community Liaison
Wikimedia Foundation
On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 12:55 PM, Jonathan Morgan <jmorgan(a)wikimedia.org
I do! When it seems readable and useful, and I
know that it exists. And
when I have something riding on the outcome. - J
On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 10:50 AM, Deborah Tankersley <
dtankersley(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Detailed, readable documentation (which is accessible directly from
>> the search interface)
>
>
> Yup, totally agree. But, in real life, who reads the documentation
> anyway? ;)
>
>
> --
> deb tankersley
> irc: debt
> Product Manager, Discovery
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 11:21 AM, Jonathan Morgan <
> jmorgan(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> When I read this article, I wasn't struck that the author was saying
>> she thought that technology "owed" her particular results.
>>
>> I think the point she's making is that so much of our life now is
>> mediated by algorithms that make choices we may not understand, and that
>> impacts how we see the world in ways we can't easily anticipate or account
>> for (supporting quotes below). And the problem is subtler and more
>> pervasive than simply issues of "filter bubbles" and "fake
news" that are
>> currently garnering the biggest headlines.
>>
>> This is part of a broader conversation that happening right now
>> around algorithmic transparency and "ethical AI". Lots and lots of big
>> names are weighing in on the topic[1][2][3][4][5][6].
>>
>> I haven't see a whole lot of specific design guidance around how to
>> support transparency in the context of search yet, but I'd be interested in
>> hearing from others who have. Detailed, readable documentation (which is
>> accessible directly from the search interface) sounds like a pretty good
>> start :)
>>
>> - Jonathan
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *"I am still not accustomed to the drastic ways search algorithms can
>> direct people’s lives. We’re so used to Google’s suggested spellings and
>> the autocorrect of texting apps that we’ve stopped thinking too hard about
>> how we search or how we spell. If I tap out Chrissy but should have typed
>> Krissy, I implicitly believe that of course the opaque algorithms of
>> Facebook will intuit my intent. But we have no way of probing the limits of
>> the algorithms that govern our lives.""When we talk about the
algorithms
>> that drive sites like Google and Facebook, we marvel at their cleverness in
>> serving us information, or we worry about the ways in which they exacerbate
>> bias—profiling people based on gross data trends, for example, to decide
>> who gets a loan and who doesn’t. But there is a complex web of algorithmic
>> life-shaping at work that we barely register. It’s not that I wish Facebook
>> treated its Cs and Ks alike. It’s that by not knowing the rules, we give up
>> some agency to mathematical calculations."*
>>
>> 1.
https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/public-policy
>> /2017_usacm_statement_algorithms.pdf
>> 2.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2908372/the-ftc-is-worried
>> -about-algorithmic-transparency-and-you-should-be-too.html
>> 3.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/02/08/theme-7-the-need-gr
>> ows-for-algorithmic-literacy-transparency-and-oversight/
>> 4.
https://epic.org/algorithmic-transparency/
>> 5.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603915/tech-giants-gra
>> pple-with-the-ethical-concerns-raised-by-the-ai-boom/
>> 6.
https://cyber.harvard.edu/research/ai
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 9:04 AM, Trey Jones <tjones(a)wikimedia.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks for sharing, Chris!
>>>
>>> I found the article a bit frustrating. As a human interest story,
>>> it's very touching that the sisters were able to reconnect despite
family
>>> problems that worked to keep them apart.
>>>
>>> But from the technology side of things, blaming search algorithms
>>> seems odd to me. I'm surprised that anyone would feel that technology
owed
>>> them particular results or specific capabilities—especially capabilities
>>> they didn't even know they needed. That might actually be a useful
insight
>>> into our own users, though.
>>>
>>> I'm also surprised the author didn't use anything other than search
>>> engines and social media. I've had to track down a dozen or so people
who
>>> were out of touch for up to 20+ years, for a book project, and there are so
>>> many resources out there! Even more if you are able to spend a few dollars
>>> per person—which "book project people" did not warrant, but
siblings would.
>>>
>>> So, getting a bit more on-topic, how do we help people by not only
>>> providing them with useful information, but also the tools and processes
>>> that allow them to get the most from that information? It seems like
>>> documentation works for very sophisticated users, but the rest have to
>>> collectively and very unevenly accrete familiarity with tools over time;
>>> learning/teaching processes seems even more daunting. I can't see a way
to
>>> accelerate that process, which is disheartening.
>>>
>>> —Trey
>>>
>>> Trey Jones
>>> Software Engineer, Discovery
>>> Wikimedia Foundation
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 10:33 AM, Chris Koerner <
>>> ckoerner(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thanks to Erica Litrenta for sharing this with me. I thought I'd
>>>> share if forward.
>>>>
>>>> "It was because of the letter K that I found my younger sister,
>>>> but for 14 years, it was also the letter K that kept us apart."
>>>>
>>>>
https://www.wired.com/story/search-algorithms-kept-me-from-m
>>>> y-sister-for-14-years
>>>>
>>>> Yours,
>>>> Chris Koerner
>>>> Community Liaison
>>>> Wikimedia Foundation
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan T. Morgan
>> Senior Design Researcher
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> User:Jmorgan (WMF)
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)>
>>
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Jonathan T. Morgan
Senior Design Researcher
Wikimedia Foundation
User:Jmorgan (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jmorgan_(WMF)>
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