Algorithmic governance affects individuals’ reality construction and consequently social order in societies. Vague concepts of algorithmic governance and the lack of comprehensive empirical insights into this kind of institutional steering by software from a user perspective may, however, lead to unrealistic risk assessments and premature policy conclusions. Therefore, this paper offers a theoretical model to measure the significance of algorithmic governance and an empirical mixed-methods approach to test it in different life domains. Applying this guideline should lead to a more nuanced understanding of the actual significance of algorithmic governance, thus contributing to an empirically better-informed risk assessment and governance of algorithms.
{"title":"A guideline for understanding and measuring algorithmic governance in everyday life","authors":"M. Latzer, Noemi Festic","doi":"10.14763/2019.2.1415","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.2.1415","url":null,"abstract":"Algorithmic governance affects individuals’ reality construction and consequently social order in societies. Vague concepts of algorithmic governance and the lack of comprehensive empirical insights into this kind of institutional steering by software from a user perspective may, however, lead to unrealistic risk assessments and premature policy conclusions. Therefore, this paper offers a theoretical model to measure the significance of algorithmic governance and an empirical mixed-methods approach to test it in different life domains. Applying this guideline should lead to a more nuanced understanding of the actual significance of algorithmic governance, thus contributing to an empirically better-informed risk assessment and governance of algorithms.","PeriodicalId":45799,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Review","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2019-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66622103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Drawing on the first comprehensive investigation into the uses of data analytics in UK public services, this article outlines developments and practices surrounding the upsurge in data-driven forms of what we term ‘citizen scoring’. This refers to the use of data analytics in government for the purposes of categorisation, assessment and prediction at both individual and population level. Combining Freedom of Information requests and semi-structured interviews with public sector workers and civil society organisations, we detail the practices surrounding these developments and the nature of concerns expressed by different stakeholder groups as a way to elicit the heterogeneity, tensions and negotiations that shape the contemporary landscape of data-driven governance. Described by practitioners as a way to achieve a ‘golden view’ of populations, we argue that data systems need to be situated in this context in order to understand the wider politics of such a ‘view’ and the implications this has for state-citizen relations in the scoring society.
{"title":"The 'golden view': data-driven governance in the scoring society","authors":"L. Dencik, J. Redden, A. Hintz, Harry Warne","doi":"10.14763/2019.2.1413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.2.1413","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on the first comprehensive investigation into the uses of data analytics in UK public services, this article outlines developments and practices surrounding the upsurge in data-driven forms of what we term ‘citizen scoring’. This refers to the use of data analytics in government for the purposes of categorisation, assessment and prediction at both individual and population level. Combining Freedom of Information requests and semi-structured interviews with public sector workers and civil society organisations, we detail the practices surrounding these developments and the nature of concerns expressed by different stakeholder groups as a way to elicit the heterogeneity, tensions and negotiations that shape the contemporary landscape of data-driven governance. Described by practitioners as a way to achieve a ‘golden view’ of populations, we argue that data systems need to be situated in this context in order to understand the wider politics of such a ‘view’ and the implications this has for state-citizen relations in the scoring society.","PeriodicalId":45799,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Review","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2019-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66622065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
: Brazil has a record of judicial orders demanding that intermediaries such as local internet access providers and app stores administrators “block” user access to social media applications (such as YouTube, Facebook, Secret, and WhatsApp), because the application allegedly either provides an illegal service or has failed to comply with a court order. This paper reflects on this phenomenon and adds to a body of literature that tries to understand why internet blocking practices are enacted by looking at the context in which they happen. Upon review of episodes of social media blocking in Brazil, it argues that the blocking orders issued by Brazilian judges can be connected with a scenario of “regulatory disruption”, that is, a context of regulatory frameworks unfit to deal with innovative internet applications. This context expands the role of the judiciary in resolving legal disputes. Given that this disruptive scenario is not per se exclusive to Brazil, the paper suggests that the practice is further associated with the country’s legal culture, judicial behaviour, and level of social and institutional development.
{"title":"Disrupting the disruptive: making sense of app blocking in Brazil","authors":"Jacqueline de Souza Abreu","doi":"10.14763/2018.3.928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2018.3.928","url":null,"abstract":": Brazil has a record of judicial orders demanding that intermediaries such as local internet access providers and app stores administrators “block” user access to social media applications (such as YouTube, Facebook, Secret, and WhatsApp), because the application allegedly either provides an illegal service or has failed to comply with a court order. This paper reflects on this phenomenon and adds to a body of literature that tries to understand why internet blocking practices are enacted by looking at the context in which they happen. Upon review of episodes of social media blocking in Brazil, it argues that the blocking orders issued by Brazilian judges can be connected with a scenario of “regulatory disruption”, that is, a context of regulatory frameworks unfit to deal with innovative internet applications. This context expands the role of the judiciary in resolving legal disputes. Given that this disruptive scenario is not per se exclusive to Brazil, the paper suggests that the practice is further associated with the country’s legal culture, judicial behaviour, and level of social and institutional development.","PeriodicalId":45799,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Review","volume":"34 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2018-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72452218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}