digitization: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should / Tara Robertson
In this blog post, Robertson takes a critical look at Reveal Digital’s work to digitize On Our Backs (OOB), a lesbian feminist porn magazine that ran from 1984-2004. She points out that there are ethical issues with digitizing and making print collections like OOB available online and that Reveal Digital needs more robust ethical guidelines…
Read MoreCommunity + Museum: Guidelines for Collaboration
The Community and Museum collaboration guidelines were developed over a three-year period of collaboration between Native and non-Native museum professionals, cultural leaders and artists. The guidelines are intended as a resource for community members who are working in collaboration with museums. This is not a set of rules; instead, it offers ideas to consider when working…
Read MoreConsider the Boolean: The Challenge of Using Binary Data Structures in a Complicated World / Jacob Harris
I generally prefer to write about big picture subjects for my Learning pieces at Source. But today, let’s start from something small that illuminates the way even simple choices affect what we can represent and the stories we can tell. Let’s talk about the most basic datatype we often build our databases from: Boolean fields.…
Read MoreImagining: Creating Spaces for Indigenous Ontologies / Marisa Elena Duarte and Miranda Belarde-Lewis
For at least half a century, catalogers have struggled with how to catalog and classify Native American and Indigenous peoples materials in library, archive, and museum collections. Understanding how colonialism works can help those in the field of knowledge organization appreciate the power dynamics embedded in the marginalization of Native American and Indigenous peoples materials…
Read MorePrototype Theory: An Alternative Concept Theory for Categorizing Sex and Gender? / Melodie J. Fox
This article explores prototype theory as an alternative to classical theories of classification. This article points to other, more fine-grained methods for classification than traditional systems with rigid boundaries and hierarchies. While this article does not delve into the technical systems needed to implement prototype theory, it is a very useful foundation for discussions on…
Read MoreHow We Analyzed the COMPAS Recidivism Algorithm / Mattu Larson and Angwin Kirchner
We set out to assess one of the commercial tools made by Northpointe, Inc. to discover the underlying accuracy of their recidivism algorithm and to test whether the algorithm was biased against certain groups. [zotpress userid=”1341761″ items=”B3VQQBGS” style=”chicago-author-date”]
Read MoreDesign Justice in Action
Design Justice in Action (2017) rethinks design processes, centers people who are normally marginalized by design, and uses collaborative, creative practices to address the deepest challenges our communities face.
Read MoreFinding Gender-Inclusiveness Software Issues with GenderMag: A Field Investigation
Gender inclusiveness in computing settings is receiving a lot of attention, but one potentially critical factor has mostly been overlooked—software itself. To help close this gap, we recently created GenderMag, a systematic inspection method to enable software practitioners to evaluate their software for issues of gender-inclusiveness. In this paper, we present the first real-world investigation…
Read MoreCritical technical practice as a methodology for values in design
Critical Technical Practice (CTP) is an approach to identifying and altering philosophical assumptions underlying technical practice. In this paper, we propose CTP as a useful method for developing value-sensitive design, complementing existing ethics-based approaches in HCI. CTP, originally proposed by Phil Agre, tightly binds technology development (as practiced in computer science) with critical reflection (as…
Read MoreToward a Critical Technical Practice / Philip Agre
A foundational article in both Artificial Intelligence and critical technical practice, containing a powerful theoretical framework for thinking about the ways that human assumptions and bias enter programming decisions at even the most basic level. “A critical technical practice will, at least for the foreseeable future, require a split identity — one foot planted in…
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