"This report, prepared by AlgorithmWatch for the ITUC, looks at examples from around the world of how unions are tackling the crucial issues of transparency and regulation in relation to algorithms. It reveals that while there is a substantial and growing body of trade union knowledge and policy, th
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ere is a need to build that into practical information, advice and guidance for union representatives and negotiators. The report includes examples of where unions are doing this, and puts the case for such efforts to be extended and deepened. The report should be read in the context of many governments failing to properly implement ILO Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining. That Convention, ratified by 168 countries, requires governments to promote collective bargaining, which is very often not the case. As the ITUC Global Rights Index shows, the fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining are under attack, either by governments or with their compliance and support." (Page 3)
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"Trends towards greater transparency of platforms, in the form of extending cooperation around data, offer benefit to the interests of all stakeholders. This policy brief considers the normative, institutional and technical mechanisms that support access to datasets that are not accessible generally
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but have public interest value. The analysis below maps the general trends and issues, then proceeds to assess the separate cases of journalists’ safety and media viability, and concludes with recommendations." (Abstract)
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"YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitter, etc. have their own logics, dynamics and different audiences. This book analyses how the users of these social networks, especially those of YouTube and Instagram, become content prescribers, opinion leaders and, by extension, people of influence. What
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influence capacity do they have? Why are intimate or personal aspects shared with unknown people? Who are the big beneficiaries? How much is vanity and how much altruism? What business is behind these social networks? What dangers do they contain? What volume of business can we estimate they generate? How are they transforming cultural industries? What legislation is applied? How does the legislation affect these communications when they are sponsored? Is the privacy of users violated with the data obtained? Who is the owner of the content? Are they to blame for "fake news"? In this changing, challenging and intriguing environment, The Dynamics of Influencer Marketing discusses all of these questions and more. Considering this complexity from different perspectives: technological, economic, sociological, psychological and legal, the book combines the visions of several experts from the academic world and provides a structured framework with a wide approach to understand the new era of influencing, including the dark sides of it." (Publisher description)
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"This paper establishes dialogs between theories on the popular and critical studies on algorithms and datafication. In doing so, it contributes to reversing the analytical tendency to assume that algorithms have universal effects and that conclusions about “algorithmic power” in the Global Nort
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h apply unproblematically everywhere else. We begin by clarifying how Latin American scholars and other research traditions have theorized the popular (“lo popular”). We then develop four dimensions of lo popular to implement these ideas in the case of algorithms: playful cultural practices, imagination, resistance, and “in-betweenness.” We argue that this dialogue can generate different ways of thinking about the problems inherent to algorithmic mediation by drawing attention to the remixes of cultural practices, imaginative solutions to everyday problems, “cyborg” forms of resistance, and ambiguous forms of agency that are central to the operations of algorithmic assemblages nowadays." (Abstract)
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"Efforts to govern algorithms have centerd the ‘black box problem,’or the opacity of algorithms resulting from corporate secrecy and technical complexity. In this article, I conceptualize a related and equally fundamental challenge for governance efforts: black box gaslighting. Black box gasligh
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ting captures how platforms may leverage perceptions of their epistemic authority on their algorithms to undermine users’ confidence in what they know about algorithms and destabilize credible criticism. I explicate the concept of black box gaslighting through a case study of the ‘shadowbanning’ dispute within the Instagram influencer community, drawing on interviews with influencers (n = 17) and online discourse materials (e.g., social media posts, blog posts, videos, etc.). I argue that black box gaslighting presents a formidable deterrent for those seeking accountability: an epistemic contest over the legitimacy of critiques in which platforms hold the upper hand. At the same time, I suggest we must be mindful of the partial nature of platforms’ claim to ‘the truth,’ as well as the value of user understandings of algorithms." (Abstract)
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"The emergence of artificial intelligence has triggered enthusiasm and promise of boundless opportunities as much as uncertainty about its limits. The contributions to this volume explore the limits of AI, describe the necessary conditions for its functionality, reveal its attendant technical and so
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cial problems, and present some existing and potential solutions. At the same time, the contributors highlight the societal and attending economic hopes and fears, utopias and dystopias that are associated with the current and future development of artificial intelligence." (Publisher description)
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"This study employed three machine learning algorithms, Naïve Bayes, SVM, and a Balanced Random Forest to build a sentiment model that can detect Muslim sentiment about Muslim clerics’ anti-misinformation campaign on YouTube. Overall, 9701 comments were collected. An LDA-based topic model was als
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o employed to understand the most expressed topics in the YouTube comments. Results: The confusion matrix and accuracy score assessment revealed that the balanced random forest-based model demonstrated the best performance. Overall, the sentiment analysis discovered that 74 percent of the comments were negative, and 26 percent were positive. An LDA-based topic model also revealed the eight most discussed topics associated with ten keywords in those YouTube comments. Practical implications: The sentiment and topic model from this study will particularly help public health professionals and researchers to better understand the nature of vaccine misinformation and hesitancy in the Muslim communities." (Abstract)
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"Digital infrastructure increasingly enables the extraction, exploitation, processing and analysis of personal and behavioural data. Data analytics have not just become the core of the digital economy but also constitute a growing feature of the public sector. Wide areas of public administration are
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now based on, or at least informed by, the aggregation of data for the purpose of profiling, categorising, sorting, rating, ranking and segmenting populations, and then treating them distinctly. Scoring systems and other forms of predictive analytics are prime means to assess citizens yet these systems are applied mostly without the knowledge of those being analysed and the exact mechanisms of data analytics remain obscure. Citizens are classified according to criteria that are not transparent, with consequences they do not know about, and without an open way of redress. As citizens are continuously profiled and evaluated, there is a power shift from citizens to the state. All this raises fundamental questions regarding the quality of democracy in a context of datafied administration and governance. Whereas a democracy requires that the people adopt the role of the sovereign, in a datafied society this sovereign does not have much knowledge, understanding, or say in how it is treated. Key questions arise: What are avenues for people to participate in decisions about the use of predictive analytics by public institutions? How can they intervene into an increasingly automated state? How can the datafied society be democratised? To investigate these questions, this report addresses six themes: 1. Institutional dynamics; 2. Initiatives of civic engagement; 3. Oversight and advisory bodies; 4. Civil society strategies; 5. Alternative Imaginaries and Infrastructures; 6. Data literacy." (Executive summary)
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"Multifaceted, uncensored, promoting democracy - that is the internet, many people had long hoped. But from today's perspective, this is not true - or only partially. Because the big digital platforms and the world wide web are both: media of freedom and control. In many places, they support civil s
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ociety, but often they also pose a massive threat to it. On the one hand, civil society organisations, activists and bloggers use digital tools to organise their work and make it more efficient: Through them, they disseminate reports and campaigns and exchange information. On the other hand, governments restrict freedom of expression and the press through online censorship: They block access to certain websites or platforms or shut down the internet entirely and monitor activists and journalists with digital technologies, often made in Europe. Policymakers, platforms and civil society face major challenges: They have to negotiate and decide how to deal with hate on the web and in social media without compromising freedom of expression. How more people, especially in the Global South, can get better access to the internet. And, how the data collection frenzy of the big tech companies and the dangers posed to democracy by Facebook & Co can be contained. Civil society voices call for more human rights based regulation and containment of digital capitalism." (Summary, page 6)
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"Vielfaltig, unzensiert, demokratiefördernd - das ist das Internet, hofften viele Menschen lange. Doch diese Attribute passen aus heutiger Sicht nicht - oder nur teilweise. Denn die großen digitalen Plattformen und das World Wide Web sind beides: Medien der Freiheit und der Kontrolle. Sie helfen d
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er Zivilgesellschaft vielerorts, gefährden sie aber oft auch massiv. Denn einerseits nutzen zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen, Aktivist:innen und Blogger:innen digitale Tools zur Organisation und Effizienzsteigerung ihrer Arbeit: Sie verbreiten über sie Analysen und Kampagnen und tauschen sich darüber aus. Andererseits schränken Regierungen weltweit durch Online-Zensur die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit ein: Sie blockieren den Zugang zu bestimmten Webseiten oder Plattformen oder sperren das Netz ganz und überwachen Aktivist:innen und Journalist:innen gezielt mit digitalen Technologien, oft Made in Europe. Die Herausforderungen an Politik, Plattformen und Zivilgesellschaft sind groß: Sie müssen aushandeln und entscheiden, was dem Hass im Netz und in den Sozialen Medien entgegengesetzt werden kann, ohne dass die Meinungsfreiheit eingeschränkt wird. Wie mehr Menschen gerade im Globalen Süden einen besseren Zugang zum Internet bekommen. Und wie sich die Datensammelwut der großen Tech-Konzerne und die damit für die Demokratie von Facebook & Co. ausgehenden Gefahren eindämmen lassen. Die zivilgesellschaftlichen Stimmen mehren sich, die mehr menschenrechtsorientierte Regulierung und eine Eindämmung des digitalen Kapitalismus fordern." (Zusammengefasst, Seite 6)
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"This Open Access book examines the ambivalences of data power. Firstly, the ambivalences between global infrastructures and local invisibilities challenge the grand narrative of the ephemeral nature of a global data infrastructure. They make visible local working and living conditions, and the reso
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urces and arrangements required to operate and run them. Secondly, the book examines ambivalences between the state and data justice. It considers data justice in relation to state surveillance and data capitalism, and reflects on the ambivalences between an “entrepreneurial state” and a “welfare state”. Thirdly, the authors discuss ambivalences of everyday practices and collective action, in which civil society groups, communities, and movements try to position the interests of people against the “big players” in the tech industry." (Publisher description)
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"This report examines the widespread use of encrypted messaging apps (EMAs) in developing countries and emerging democracies has prompted news outlets in these regions to experiment with them as mechanisms for distributing the news. From news products designed specifically for sharing via EMAs to pr
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ivate channels used to circumvent restrictions in repressive media environments, media outlets are testing how best to use these apps to reach audiences even in the face of technical challenges, resource demands, and sometimes, political pressure. The document concludes that a) news outlets are turning to EMAs to reach new audiences and to bypass state censorship in authoritarian contexts; b) many newsrooms are experimenting with monetizing EMA content, however, it is still too early to tell whether EMAs can provide a reliable revenue stream; c) platform dependency is a big issue when it comes to using EMAs for news-policy changes can have a big impact on how news outlets interact with their audiences." (Publisher description)
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"Die Coronapandemie hat schonungslos die Schwachstellen der digitalen Gesellschaft aufgedeckt: die Digitalisierungsdefizite der öffentlichen Verwaltung, die schlechte digitale Ausstattung der Schulen und Universitäten, die Monopolstellung internationaler Digitalkonzerne, die Polarisierung in den s
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ozialen Medien, die digitale Spaltung der Gesellschaft in Stadt und Land und Arm und Reich. Auch die Demokratie und ihre Institutionen scheinen nur zum Teil auf die Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung vorbereitet zu sein. Gleichzeitig hat die Pandemie gesellschaftliche Digitalisierungspotenziale aufgezeigt und entsprechende Prozesse angestoßen oder beschleunigt, etwa hinsichtlich neuer digitaler Formen der Kommunikation und des Arbeitens, der Verwaltungsmodernisierung oder im Bereich demokratischer Partizipation. Die größte gesellschaftliche Aufgabe dürfte künftig sein, alte digitale Spaltungen und Ungleichheiten abzubauen und neuen vorzubeugen." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Diese Publikation ist im Rahmen des Projekts AutoCheck – Handlungsanleitung für den Umgang mit automatisierten Entscheidungssystemen für Antidiskriminierungsstellen entstanden. Sie ist eine erste Einführung in die Diskriminierungsrisiken beim Einsatz von automatisierten Entscheidungssystemen.
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Für ein tiefergehendes Verständnis der Thematik werden im Rahmen des Projekts Weiterbildungskonzepte entwickelt, die als Workshops für Multiplikator*innen veröffentlicht und angeboten werden. Wir wenden uns mit dieser Handreichung in erster Linie an Mitarbeitende von Antidiskriminierungsstellen in Deutschland. Durch Kompetenzaufbau in diesem zunehmend bedeutsamen Themenfeld sollen sie in die Lage versetzt werden, Risiken besser zu erkennen, einzuschätzen und dadurch in konkreten Diskriminierungsfällen Betroffene besser unterstützen zu können. Darüber hinaus soll diese Publikation auch den von Diskriminierung Betroffenen die Möglichkeit geben, sich über das Thema zu informieren. Der Fokus liegt auf dem Zugang zu Gütern und privaten Dienstleistungen, beispielsweise Benachteiligungen im Online-Handel oder beim Abschließen einer Versicherung. Nur am Rande gehen wir auf andere Anwendungsbereiche des Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetzes (AGG) ein." (Einleitung)
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"The goal of this Data Governance Toolkit is to guide non-profit organizations through the steps and best practices for implementing Data Governance within your organization, while keeping in mind the changing organization IT landscape, enterprise architecture and program deliverables. To support or
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ganizations, reach their goal of capacity building in Data and Analysis, this toolkit guides you through a Framework to implementing Data Governance that includes template policies, roles, roadmaps and KPIs." (Purpose of this toolkit, page 3)
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"Algorithms are not to be regarded as a technical structure but as a social phenomenon - they embed themselves, currently still very subtle, into our political and social system. Algorithms shape human behavior on various levels: they influence not only the aesthetic reception of the world but also
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the well-being and social interaction of their users. They act and intervene in a political and social context. As algorithms influence individual behavior in these social and political situations, their power should be the subject of critical discourse - or even lead to active disobedience and to the need for appropriate tools and methods which can be used to break the algorithmic power." (Publisher description)
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