[Air-L] Governing Algorithms - Conference at New York University - May 16-17, 2013

[Malte Ziewitz]

GOVERNING ALGORITHMS
A conference on computation, automation, and control

New York University
May 16-17, 2013

Algorithms are increasingly invoked as powerful entities that control,
govern, sort, regulate, and shape everything from financial trades to news
media. Nevertheless, the nature and implications of such orderings are far
from clear. What exactly is it that algorithms “govern”? What is the role
attributed to “algorithms” in these arguments? Can we turn the “problem of
algorithms” into an object of productive inquiry?

This conference sets out to explore the recent rise of algorithms as an
object of interest in scholarship, policy, and practice beyond computer
science. Taking a fresh view on the current wave of interest in this topic,
we aim to discuss themes such as:

* the very idea of “algorithms” as a subject and object of analysis
* issues of methodology and the kind of knowledge claims that come with
algorithms
* the rhetoric of problems and solutions, success and failure
* questions of agency, accountability, and automation
* secrecy, obscurity, inscrutability
* rules, regulations, resistance

Speakers include: Lucas Introna, Tarleton Gillespie, Evgeny Morozov, Daniel
Neyland, Frank Pasquale, Claudia Perlich, Robert Tarjan as well as Mike
Annany, Kate Crawford, Lisa Gitelman, Moritz Hardt, Matthew Jones, Karrie
Karahalios, and Martha Poon.

Everyone is welcome, but registration is required:
http://governingalgorithms.org/registration/

Organizing committee:
Solon Barocas, Sophie Hood, Helen Nissenbaum, Malte Ziewitz

The conference is supported by the Intel Science & Technology Center for
Social Computing, the Information Law Institute at NYU School of Law, and
the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University.

http://governingalgorithms.org