A Middle-School Camp Emphasizing Data Science and Computing for Social Good

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caelin Bryant ◽  
Yesheng Chen ◽  
Zhen Chen ◽  
Jonathan Gilmour ◽  
Shyamala Gumidyala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Social Good

scholarly journals Data science ethics in government

2016 ◽  
Vol 374 (2083) ◽  
pp. 20160119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cat Drew
Keyword(s):  
Data Science ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Science Ethics ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Government Data ◽  
The Government

Data science can offer huge opportunities for government. With the ability to process larger and more complex datasets than ever before, it can provide better insights for policymakers and make services more tailored and efficient. As with all new technologies, there is a risk that we do not take up its opportunities and miss out on its enormous potential. We want people to feel confident to innovate with data. So, over the past 18 months, the Government Data Science Partnership has taken an open, evidence-based and user-centred approach to creating an ethical framework. It is a practical document that brings all the legal guidance together in one place, and is written in the context of new data science capabilities. As part of its development, we ran a public dialogue on data science ethics, including deliberative workshops, an experimental conjoint survey and an online engagement tool. The research supported the principles set out in the framework as well as provided useful insight into how we need to communicate about data science. It found that people had a low awareness of the term ‘data science’, but that showing data science examples can increase broad support for government exploring innovative uses of data. But people's support is highly context driven. People consider acceptability on a case-by-case basis, first thinking about the overall policy goals and likely intended outcome, and then weighing up privacy and unintended consequences. The ethical framework is a crucial start, but it does not solve all the challenges it highlights, particularly as technology is creating new challenges and opportunities every day. Continued research is needed into data minimization and anonymization, robust data models, algorithmic accountability, and transparency and data security. It also has revealed the need to set out a renewed deal between the citizen and state on data, to maintain and solidify trust in how we use people's data for social good. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The ethical impact of data science’.

scholarly journals Public Policy and Social Good: Theory, Practice and Beyond

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh C. Shukla
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
Moral Force ◽  
Fundamental Goal ◽  
The Capability Approach

In this paper I argue that the most fundamental goal of any public policy is to assist the realization of social good. I take it that the idea of social good has developed differently in different political and moral traditions, and focus my analysis on the interplay of liberalism, virtue ethics and the Capability Approach. I argue that the liberal conception of social good, as espoused by its leading exponents, is somewhat problematic, and that it fails to account for meaningful civic associations. Even though liberal thinkers often prioritize an individual’s freedom and autonomy, they do not provide us with concreto principles that can facilitate the realization of these goals. I draw upon the practical functioning of leading liberal democracies, including the United States, Canada and India, emphasizing the role of normative political constraints in policy making. I conclude that the liberal conception of social good stands in an acute need of a fresh principle that can rectify the above anomalies and reinvigorate its moral force, and that such a principle can probably be constructed with the help of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Aristotle’s Virtue Theory.

A Middle-School Code Camp Experience Emphasizing Data Science for Social Good

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caelin Bryant ◽  
Jonathan Gilmour ◽  
Beatriz Herce-Hagiwara ◽  
Anh Thu Pham ◽  
Halle Remash ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Social Good

scholarly journals AI for the Common Good?! Pitfalls, challenges, and ethics pen-testing

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Berendt
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Social Good ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
The Common ◽  
Positive Recommendation

AbstractRecently, many AI researchers and practitioners have embarked on research visions that involve doing AI for “Good”. This is part of a general drive towards infusing AI research and practice with ethical thinking. One frequent theme in current ethical guidelines is the requirement that AI be good for all, or: contribute to the Common Good. Butwhat is the Common Good, and is it enough to want to be good? Via four lead questions, I will illustrate challenges and pitfallswhen determining, from an AI point of view,what the Common Good is and how it can be enhanced by AI. The questions are: What is the problem / What is a problem?, Who defines the problem?, What is the role of knowledge?, and What are important side effects and dynamics? The illustration will use an example from the domain of “AI for Social Good”, more specifically “Data Science for Social Good”. Even if the importance of these questions may be known at an abstract level, they do not get asked sufficiently in practice, as shown by an exploratory study of 99 contributions to recent conferences in the field. Turning these challenges and pitfalls into a positive recommendation, as a conclusion I will draw on another characteristic of computer-science thinking and practice to make these impediments visible and attenuate them: “attacks” as a method for improving design. This results in the proposal of ethics pen-testing as a method for helping AI designs to better contribute to the Common Good.

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