[Air-L] algorithms as infrastructures/archives
Michael Muller
michael_muller at us.ibm.com
Mon May 27 11:47:29 PDT 2019
You may also be interested in a series of defamiliarizing papers about
algorithms by Nick Seaver - see his writing
page [1]http://nickseaver.net/writing at his website.
best,
--michael
-----
Michael Muller, PhD, IBM Research, Cambridge MA USA
ACM Distinguished Scientist
ACM SIGCHI Academy
IBM Master Inventor
----- Original message -----
From: Mar Hicks <marhicks0 at gmail.com>
Sent by: "Air-L" <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org>
To: Air-L at listserv.aoir.org
Cc:
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Air-L] algorithms as
infrastructures/archives
Date: Mon, May 27, 2019 2:37 PM
Hi Loup,
Along the lines of "old infrastructures of the state," you might be
interested in my recent article on transphobic algorithmic bias in the
mainframe era, as well as the other articles in this recent 2-part
special issue on the history of computing in governance:
"Hacking the Cis-tem" IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Volume
41 Issue 1, Jan.-March-2019
[2]https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8634814
Abstract
This article looks at the case of transgender Britons who tried to
correct the gender listed on their government-issued ID cards, but ran
up against the British government's increasingly computerized methods
for tracking, identifying, and defining citizens. These
newly-computerizing systems show some of the earliest examples of
transphobic algorithmic bias: explicit attempts to program trans people
out of the system can be seen in the programming of the early Ministry
of Pensions computer system designed to apportion benefits to all
taxpaying British citizens. Transgender citizens pushed back against
these developments, attempting to hack the bureaucratic avenues and
categories available to them, laying the groundwork for a coalescing
political movement. This article argues that uncovering the deep
prehistory of algorithmic bias, and investigating instances of
resistance within this history, is essential to understanding current
debates about algorithmic bias--and how computerized systems have long
functioned to create and enforce norms and hierarchies.
Best,
Mar
______________________
Mar Hicks
Associate Professor
History of Technology
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL USA
mhicks1 at iit.edu | marhicks.com | @histoftech
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and
Lost Its Edge in Computing
www.programmedinequality.com
On May 27, 2019, at 1:49 PM, Dr. S.A. Applin <sally at sally.com> wrote:
Hi,
PolySocial Reality (PoSR) is a conceptual model that encompasses
messaging and communications—including algorithms.
You might find something at posr.org
and at posr.org/wiki/publications
-Sally
Sally Applin, Ph.D.
..........
Research Fellow
HRAF Advanced Research Centres (EU), Canterbury
Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing (CSAC)
..........
Research Associate
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)
Yale University
..........
Associate Editor, IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine
Member, IoT Council
Executive Board Member: The Edward H. and Rosamond B. Spicer Foundation
..........
[3]http://www.posr.org
[4]http://www.sally.com
I am based in Silicon Valley
..........
sally at sally.com | 650.339.5236
______________________
Mar[ie] Hicks
mariehicks.net | @histoftech
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and
Lost Its Edge in Computing
www.programmedinequality.com
> On May 27, 2019, at 8:20 AM, Loup Cellard <loupcellard at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> Anyone can recommend readings helping in conceptualising algorithms
as
> "old" infrastructures or "living" archives.
>
> I am studying more particularly large-scale decision-making systems
that
> relies on "old" infrastructures of the state.
> Ex: algorithms used to calculate taxes, the work mobility of civil
> servants, allocation of students into schools, etc.
>
> I am interested about two things :
>
> - while algorithms are sometimes defined as innovative and somehow
"new"
> they actually relies on "old" infrastructures. (the temporality of
> infrastructures)
> - the infrastructural capacity of the state and the way it maintain
an
> opacity on these systems. (the attractiveness and dangers of
algorithmic
> transparency)
>
>
> Any recommendation from infrastructure studies ? critical algorithm
studies
> ? sociology/anthropology of the state and civil services ?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Loup
>
> --
>
>
> *Loup Cellard*PhD Student - Centre for Interdisciplinary
Methodologies
> <[5]http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/>, Warwick
University,
> Coventry, UK.
> <[6]http://www.loupcellard.com>Email : loupcellard at gmail.com
> Mobile : +33 7 87 00 84 22
> Site Web : loupcellard.com <[7]http://www.loupcellard.com/>
> Twitter : @CellardLoup <[8]https://twitter.com/CellardLoup>
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References
1. http://nickseaver.net/writing
2. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8634814
3. http://www.posr.org/
4. http://www.sally.com/
5. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/cim/
6. http://www.loupcellard.com/
7. http://www.loupcellard.com/
8. https://twitter.com/CellardLoup
9. http://aoir.org/
10. http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
11. http://www.aoir.org/
12. http://aoir.org/
13. http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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