[Air-L] Data and Discrimination: Converting Critical Concerns into Productive Inquiry at ICA

[gus andrews]

Hi list,

My colleague Seeta Peña Gangadharan asked me to pass this along, as it may
be of interest to many of you.

Cheers,
Gus
gandre.ws

Data and Discrimination: Converting Critical Concerns into Productive
Inquiry
  A preconference at the 64th Annual Meeting of the International
Communication Association <http://www.icahdq.org/conf/index.asp>
Thursday, May 22, 2014, 9:00-4:30
Seattle, Washington, Sheraton Seattle
Hotel<http://www.icahdq.org/conf/2014/hotels.asp>
Organized by Seeta Peña
Gangadharan<http://newamerica.net/people/seeta_gangadharan>,
Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation

Call for Papers<http://oti.newamerica.net/events/2014/05/22/data-and-discrimination#callforpapers>|
Submission<http://oti.newamerica.net/events/2014/05/22/data-and-discrimination#submission>|
Registration<http://oti.newamerica.net/events/2014/05/22/data-and-discrimination#registration>|
Schedule<http://oti.newamerica.net/events/2014/05/22/data-and-discrimination#schedule>

Critics increasingly cite the pervasiveness of data collection by corporate
and government actors as evidence of a growing problem that requires
intervention and oversight. But what about the analysis of these data or
other processes like data storage, transmission, and sharing? More
importantly, in each of these contexts, what constitutes harm and who or
what is likely affected?

In this preconference, scholars will explore the nature and consequences of
discrimination that occurs when corporations and governments collect,
store, transmit, share, and analyze information about consumers and
citizens. Discrimination can be understood in technical terms, such as
parameters of an algorithm that identify patterns in a data set, in
political terms, such as when a lack of data collection on certain
populations leads to policy choices and the distribution of resources, or
social and economic terms, such as when analysis of consumers’ digital
behavior leads to targeted marketing of particular products.

This convening will present new ways to identify and differentiate forms of
data-based discrimination and to convert critical concerns into productive
inquiry. We aim to discuss historical, methodological, moral, and ethical
issues that will inform a critical perspective on computational,
algorithmic, and aggregative processes governing public and private
decision making today.
Call for Papers

We welcome scholarly contributions that address the following questions:

   - What is data-based discrimination? Who or what discriminates? Who is
   discriminated against? Why? Which stage—data collection, sharing,
   transmission, analysis—matters more to discriminatory process or outcomes?
   - Under what conditions do data distort, pervert, or harm more than
   help? For example, what is the relationship of open data initiatives to
   data-based discrimination?
   - How do we conceptualize error or noise in the age of big data
   analysis? Is data obfuscation, for example, a liberatory process? What are
   predigital examples of data-driven discrimination?
   - What mechanisms, regulatory or otherwise, can solve problems related
   to data-based discrimination?
   - When does exclusion from data collection processes and their analysis
   equate with social, economic, and political exclusion?

Submission

We welcome extended abstracts of original works from scholars at all stages
of their careers and across multiple disciplines. We also welcome
submissions from practitioners. Please submit an extended abstract
(approximately 750 words) in the form of a pdf to
ica2014 at opentechinstitute.org.
Registration Register for this preconference
online<http://www.icahdq.org/conf/>beginning January 15, 2014, as part
of your main ICA conference
registration, or as a stand-alone item. The cost per person is $50. A
limited number of fee scholarships for nationals based in a developing
country will be available. If interested, please put “Scholarship” in the
header of your extended abstract. Also, two spots are available for
“Rapporteurs,” which entails documenting the event in exchange for a fee
waiver. Please indicate “Rapporteur” in the header of your submission.
Preference for rapporteurs will be given to graduate students.
ScheduleDeadline for proposals: January 31, 2014.
Confirmation of receipt: Week of February 3, 2014
Decision announced: February 21, 2014
Deadline for submission of completed papers: April 21, 2014
Preconference: May 22, 2014