Algoshambles: Big Data as Forces of Oppression and Liberation

Start: 2020-10-29 19:00:00 UTC Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London (GMT+00:00)

This is a virtual event

Algorithms are everywhere, they sort and separate people into successes and failures. Successes get the job, the credit card, the As and A*s in their A-levels. The failures don’t get the interview, pay more for credit or don’t get their university places.

The UK Government tried to award grades by algorithm, and you know what happened. The longstanding inequality in the British education system was exacerbated and laid bare for all to see - the proportion of public (private) school students receiving the A/A* was more than twice as high as the proportion of students at state schools. There was uproar and the decision to use the algorithm was overturned.

Whilst this was one of the most high profile cases an algorithm has reinforced oppression, it is by no means unique. Systems are secretly scoring us - readying to sell us products, or to decide whether we succeed in life. They act silently, with complex methods and no systems of appeal.

So what can we do?

Join us for an online panel discussion with this incredible line up of speakers on their ideas for progressive change:

  • Dr Lauren Klein - Author of “Data Feminism” and Associate Professor, Departments of English and Quantitative Theory and Methods, Emory University
  • Prof. John Naughton - Technology Columnist in the Observer and Senior Research Fellow, CRASSH, University of Cambridge
  • Dr Peaks Krafft - Senior Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
  • Christian Schroeder de Witt - Postgraduate Researcher in AI, University of Oxford and Candidate for Holywell Ward, Green Party
Sponsored by
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Oxford Young Greens