The conversation “Algorithm Audits to Accountability” took place on September 3, 2021 between Duncan Watts, the Stevens University Professor and twenty-third Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and Danaë Metaxa, incoming assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Computer and Information Science department of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, with a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School. They discussed Metaxa’s research using algorithm audits to measure gender and racial bias in online services such as Google Images. In addition to exploring the relevance of Metaxa’s work to algorithmic systems, the discussion touched on the importance of reconciling the sometimes competing epistemic values of computer science and social science, as well as the clash between the general and the particular.
Watch the full conversation here.
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The Annenberg Conversations series at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication engage Communication research and scholarship on topical issues together with a wide variety of individuals outside of Annenberg — including academics, activists, artists, and many others. During the 2021-22 academic year, the topic is gender.