A Field Book for World Food Program Staff: “The field book outlines the main risks for staff engaged in mobile data collection and helps promote responsible data collection/storage/sharing in the very complex environment in which WFP operates…(Conducting Mobile Surveys Responsibly: A Field Book for WFP Staff, May 2017)
Twitter as a data source: An overview of tools for journalists
Wasim Ahmed at Data Driven Journalism: “Journalists may wish to use data from social media platforms in order to provide greater insight and context to a news story. For example, journalists may wish to examine the contagion of hashtags and whether they are capable of achieving political or social change. Moreover, newsrooms may also wish to tap into social media posts during unfolding crisis events. For example, to find out who tweeted about a crisis event first, and to empirically examine the impact of social media.
Furthermore, Twitter users and accounts such as WikiLeaks may operate outside the constraints of traditional journalism, and therefore it becomes important to have tools and mechanisms in place in order to examine these kinds of influential users. For example, it was found that those who were backing Marine Le Pen on Twitter could have been users who had an affinity to Donald Trump.
There remains a number of different methods for analysing social media data. Take text analytics, for example, which can include using sentiment analysis to place bulk social media posts into categories of a particular feeling, such as positive, negative, or neutral. Or machine learning, which can automatically assign social media posts to a number of different topics.
There are other methods such as social network analysis, which examines online communities and the relationships between them. A number of qualitative methodologies also exist, such as content analysis and thematic analysis, which can be used to manually label social media posts. From a journalistic perspective, network analysis may be of importance initially via tools such as NodeXL. This is because it can quickly provide an overview of influential Twitter users alongside a topic overview.
From an industry standpoint, there has been much focus on gaining insight into users’ personalities, through services such as IBM Watson’s Personality Insights service. This uses linguistic analytics to derive intrinsic personality insights, such as emotions like anxiety, self-consciousness, and depression. This information can then be used by marketers to target certain products; for example, anti-anxiety medication to users who are more anxious…(An overview of tools for 2017).”
UK government watchdog examining political use of data analytics
“Given the big data revolution, it is understandable that political campaigns are exploring the potential of advanced data analysis tools to help win votes,” Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, writes on the ICO’s blog. However, “the public have the right to expect” that this takes place in accordance with existing data protection laws, she adds.
Political parties are able to use Facebook to target voters with different messages, tailoring the advert to recipients based on their demographic. In the 2015 UK general election, the Conservative party spent £1.2 million on Facebook campaigns and the Labour party £16,000. It is expected that Labour will vastly increase that spend for the general election on 8 June….
Political parties and third-party companies are allowed to collect data from sites like Facebook and Twitter that lets them tailor these ads to broadly target different demographics. However, if those ads target identifiable individuals, it runs afoul of the law….(More)”
Eliminating the Human
ve a theory that much recent tech development and innovation over the last decade or so has had an unspoken overarching agenda—it has been about facilitating the need for LESS human interaction. It’s not a bug—it’s a feature. We might think Amazon was about selling us books we couldn’t find locally—and it was and what a brilliant idea—but maybe it was also just as much about eliminating human interaction. I see a pattern emerging in the innovative technology that has gotten the most attention, gets the bucks and often, no surprise, ends up getting developed and implemented. What much of this technology seems to have in common is that it removes the need to deal with humans directly. The tech doesn’t claim or acknowledge this as its primary goal, but it seems to often be the consequence. I’m sort of thinking maybe it is the primary goal. There are so many ways imagination can be manifested in the technical sphere. Many are wonderful and seem like social goods, but allow me a little conspiracy mongering here—an awful lot of them have the consequence of lessening human interaction.
I suspect that we almost don’t notice this pattern because it’s hard to imagine what an alternative focus of tech development might be. Most of the news we get barraged with is about algorithms, AI, robots and self driving cars, all of which fit this pattern, though there are indeed many technological innovations underway that have nothing to do with eliminating human interaction from our lives. CRISPR-cas9 in genetics, new films that can efficiently and cheaply cool houses and quantum computing to name a few, but what we read about most and what touches us daily is the trajectory towards less human involvement. Note: I don’t consider chat rooms and product reviews as “human interaction”; they’re mediated and filtered by a screen.
I am not saying these developments are not efficient and convenient; this is not a judgement regarding the services and technology. I am simply noticing a pattern and wondering if that pattern means there are other possible roads we could be going down, and that the way we’re going is not in fact inevitable, but is (possibly unconsciously) chosen.
Here are some examples of tech that allows for less human interaction…
Lastly, “Social” media- social “interaction” that isn’t really social.
While the appearance on social networks is one of connection—as Facebook and others frequently claim—the fact is a lot of social media is a simulation of real social connection. As has been in evidence recently, social media actually increases divisions amongst us by amplifying echo effects and allowing us to live in cognitive bubbles. We are fed what we already like or what our similarly inclined friends like… or more likely now what someone has payed for us to see in an ad that mimics content. In this way, we actually become less connected except to those in our group…..
Many transformative movements in the past succeed based on leaders, agreed upon principles and organization. Although social media is a great tool for rallying people and bypassing government channels, it does not guarantee eventual success.
Social media is not really social—ticking boxes and having followers and getting feeds is NOT being social—it’s a screen simulation of human interaction. Human interaction is much more nuanced and complicated than what happens online. Engineers like things that are quantifiable. Smells, gestures, expression, tone of voice, etc. etc.—in short, all the various ways we communicate are VERY hard to quantify, and those are often how we tell if someone likes us or not….
To repeat what I wrote above—humans are capricious, erratic, emotional, irrational and biased in what sometimes seem like counterproductive ways. I’d argue that though those might seem like liabilities, many of those attributes actually work in our favor. Many of our emotional responses have evolved over millennia, and they are based on the probability that our responses, often prodded by an emotion, will more likely than not offer the best way to deal with a situation….
Our random accidents and odd behaviors are fun—they make life enjoyable. I’m wondering what we’re left with when there are fewer and fewer human interactions. Remove humans from the equation and we are less complete as people or as a society. “We” do not exist as isolated individuals—we as individuals are inhabitants of networks, we are relationships. That is how we prosper and thrive….(More)”.
Open Data Barometer 2016
Open Data Barometer: “Produced by the World Wide Web Foundation as a collaborative work of the Open Data for Development (OD4D) network and with the support of the Omidyar Network, the Open Data Barometer (ODB) aims to uncover the true prevalence and impact of open data initiatives around the world. It analyses global trends, and provides comparative data on countries and regions using an in-depth methodology that combines contextual data, technical assessments and secondary indicators.
Covering 115 jurisdictions in the fourth edition, the Barometer ranks governments on:
- Readiness for open data initiatives.
- Implementation of open data programmes.
- Impact that open data is having on business, politics and civil society.
After three successful editions, the fourth marks another step towards becoming a global policymaking tool with a participatory and inclusive process and a strong regional focus. This year’s Barometer includes an assessment of government performance in fulfilling the Open Data Charter principles.
The Barometer is a truly global and collaborative effort, with input from more than 100 researchers and government representatives. It takes over six months and more than 10,000 hours of research work to compile. During this process, we address more than 20,000 questions and respond to more than 5,000 comments and suggestions.
The ODB global report is a summary of some of the most striking findings. The full data and methodology is available, and is intended to support secondary research and inform better decisions for the progression of open data policies and practices across the world…(More)”.
A DARPA Perspective on Artificial Intelligence
DARPA: “What’s the ground truth on artificial intelligence (AI)? In this video, John Launchbury, the Director of DARPA’s Information Innovation Office (I2O), attempts to demystify AI–what it can do, what it can’t do, and where it is headed. Through a discussion of the “three waves of AI” and the capabilities required for AI to reach its full potential, John provides analytical context to help understand the roles AI already has played, does play now, and could play in the future. (Slides can be downloaded here)….”
Improving public services through open government
Tim Hughes at Involve: “As citizens, we rely on public services being accessible and high quality – to give us an education, keep us healthy, make our communities a safe place to be, and ensure our basic needs are met. Public services are critical to our wellbeing and life chances, and building stronger and more prosperous societies. Open government reforms have the potential to improve existing services, and unlock the ideas, knowledge and capacity for new solutions to societal challenges. The idea is simple – public services that are more responsive and accountable to us as citizens – and benefit from our insights, ideas, energy and scrutiny – will work better for us.
This is why, in partnership with the Open Government Partnership, we have written a new guidance paper on how to develop robust and ambitious open public service reforms. The guidance is particularly targeted at governments and civil society developing open governments commitments through the Open Government Partnership, but should be useful to anyone interested in how transparency, citizen participation and accountability can improve public services.
The paper sets out a framework of open public service reforms, as well as guidance, recommendations, resources and case studies. We will be updating the guide over time, so please do get in touch to let us know what you think….Download the report.“
The Behavioral Evidence Hub
About the BHUB: “There is no shortage of difficult problems in the world. Yet all too often, innovative solutions remain buried in academic research.
The B-Hub puts new tools in the hands of individuals and organizations working across the globe to improve people’s lives. The B-Hub is not an index of lengthy research papers; it’s a curated collection of innovations. Each innovation describes a behavioral product or design that has been rigorously tested in the real-world, all with a rich collection of implementation details to make replication in your own context possible.
In short, The Behavioral Evidence Hub bridges the longstanding gap between research and the real world by collecting evidence-based, behaviorally-informed solutions and bringing them directly to the people who can put them to work. The path to expansive social impact is now clearer than ever…(More)”.
An AI Ally to Combat Bullying in Virtual Worlds
Simon Parkin at MIT Technology Review: “In any fictionalized universe, the distinction between playful antagonism and earnest harassment can be difficult to discern. Name-calling between friends playing a video game together is often a form of camaraderie. Between strangers, however, similar words assume a different, more troublesome quality. Being able to distinguish between the two is crucial for any video-game maker that wants to foster a welcoming community.
Spirit AI hopes to help developers support players and discourage bullying behavior with an abuse detection and intervention system called Ally. The software monitors interactions between players—what people are saying to each other and how they are behaving—through the available actions within a game or social platform. It’s able to detect verbal harassment and also nonverbal provocation—for example, one player stalking another’s avatar or abusing reporting tools.
“We’re looking at interaction patterns, combined with natural-language classifiers, rather than relying on a list of individual keywords,” explains Ruxandra Dariescu, one of Ally’s developers. “Harassment is a nuanced problem.”
When Ally identifies potentially abusive behavior, it checks to see if the potential abuser and the other player have had previous interactions. Where Ally differs from existing moderation software is that rather than simply send an alert to the game’s developers, it is able to send a computer-controlled virtual character to check in with the player—one that, through Spirit AI’s natural-language tools, is able to converse in the game’s tone and style (see “A Video-Game Algorithm to Solve Online Abuse”)….(More)”.
Trust in Social Dilemmas
Book edited by Paul A.M. Van Lange, Bettina Rockenbach, and Toshio Yamagishi: “One of the key scientific challenges is the puzzle of human cooperation. Why do people cooperate with one another? What causes individuals to lend a helping hand to a stranger, even if it comes at a major cost to their own well-being? Why do people severely punish those who violate social norms and undermine the collective interest? Edited by Paul A.M. Van Lange, Bettina Rockenbach, and Toshio Yamagishi, Trust in Social Dilemmas carefully considers the role of trust in establishing, promoting, and maintaining overall human cooperation.
By exploring the impact of trust and effective cooperation on relationships, organizations, and communities, Trust in Social Dilemmas draws inspiration from the fact that social dilemmas, defined in terms of conflicts between self-interest and the collective interest, are omnipresent in today’s society. In capturing the breadth and relevance of trust to social dilemmas and human cooperation more generally, this book is structured in three effective parts for readers: the biology and development of trust; the importance of trust for groups and organizations; and how trust factors across the overall health of today’s society.
As Van Lange, Rockenbach, Yamagishi, and their team of expert contributors all explore in this compelling new volume, there is little doubt that trust and cooperation are intimately related in most – if not all – of our social dilemmas….(More)”.