5.3: Computer Bias

  • Computing can have both beneficial and harmful effects.
  • Human error and bias are prevalent, leading to discussions about computer bias.
  • Algorithms created by programmers can also be biased, intentional or not.
  • Age group preferences for different social media platforms can show purposeful exclusion and raise questions about harm and correction.
  • The use of female voices for virtual assistants is a purposeful decision that raises questions about harm and correction.

Intentional or Purposeful bias (Crossover Group Up, 10 minutes)

  • Google “What age groups use Facebook” vs “… TikTok”? What does the data say? Is there purposeful exclusion in these platforms? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business? The data says that the age group that uses Facebook the most are those from 25-34 years old vs Tiktok which is 10-19 years old. There is purposeful exclusion in these platforms because Facebook is much more plain and not as colorful as Tiktok, so the younger generation is attracted to Tiktok more than Facebook, which is more plain. This can be harmful because it can exclude certain viewpoints which lead to narrowed views on certain ideas. It should be corrected because it can make people be more prone to being influenced of those of the same age group, which may affirm certain ideas they have, even if it is an incorrect or dangerous idea. It is a good business because people want their ideas to be affirmed and also want to fit in with others their age.

  • Why do virtual assistants have female voices? Amazon, Alexa Google, Apple Siri. Was this purposeful? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business? Virtual assistants have female voices because virtual assistants can help us be informed or can teach us something, and when people think of people that do so many will think of a woman that does so, so I think this was purposeful. I think this is harmful because it perpetuates the belief that women’s role in society is to assist others. I think this should be corrected so that people can choose to do either male or female voices. I think it is a good business because

  • Talk about an algorithm that influences your decisions, think about these companies (ie FAANG - Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) An algorithm that influences are decisions are the advertisement algorithms in google. If you search up something on Google such as Bikes, suddenly you’ll see many advertisements on different websites like YouTube even after it has been searched up. So you’ll continue to think about the product and be more likely to buy it.

As Pairs (5 minutes)

  • Watch the video… HP computers are racist
  • Come up with some thoughts on the video and be ready to discuss them as I call on you. Here are some ideas…
  • Does the owner of the computer think this was intentional? I don’t think that the owner of the computer thinks that this was intentional
  • If yes or no, justify you conclusion. The owner and his friend were both smiling when making the video, suggesting that they think that this situation is humorous.
  • How do you think this happened? I think that when they were testing this camera following, the tests that they ran before it was sent out into the market only was run with people that did not have darker skin.
  • Is this harmful? Was it intended to be harmful or exclude? I think this is harmful even if it wasn’t intended to be harmful and excluding.
  • Should it be corrected? I should be corrected because there are many other users of computers that have darker skin.
  • What would you or should you do to produce a better outcome? I would do testing for multiple perspectives in groups, in order to avoid bias and get feedback from others.

Hacks

Write summary/thoughts/conclusions from each of the exercises above. Focus on avoiding Bias in algorithms or code you write.

5.4: Crowdsourcing

  • Crowdsourcing allows for obtaining and sharing information beyond one’s own community, reducing computer bias.
  • Evidence of crowdsourcing can be seen in platforms like Wikipedia, which has a large amount of information from crowdsourcing and is corrected through a self-policing community.
  • Crowdsourcing has also impacted the innovation of crypto currency and block chain technology, as well as the collection and analysis of COVID data.
  • Crowdsourcing has the potential to spawn new ways of thinking about data and its impact on people’s lives.

Obtaining Data via Crowdsourcing (Crossover Group Up, ~10 minutes)

  • We have all experienced Crowdsourcing by using external data through API’s, namely RapidAPI. This data has influenced how we code and shown possibilities in obtaining and analyzing data. Discuss APIs you have used. We have used many APIS like a COVID-19 API, the Jokes API, and the .

  • We have all participated in code Crowdsourcing by using GitHub. Many of you have forked from the Teacher repository, or exchanged code with fellow students. Not only can we analyze GitHub code, but we can obtain profiles and history about the persons coding history. What is the biggest discovery you have found in GitHub? The biggest discovery I have found in Github is that you are able to take code from other people’s repositories and use it to help you with other projects. For example, you can change the themes of your github page.

  • Kaggle datasets for code and science exploration. The avenue of data points us youtube or netflix channels. Analyzing crowd data helps us make decisions. Exam top 10 to 20. Did you see anything interesting?

Hacks

Think of a use case for crowdsourcing in you project …

  • CompSci has 150 ish principles students. Describe a crowdsource idea and how you might initiate it in our environment? A crowdsource idea is a code review platform. This can be implemented by first introducing the concept and benefits of code review, setting up a platform for code submissions and peer reviews, defining guidelines for the review process, making participation a part of coursework, promoting collaboration and constructive feedback, and regularly evaluating the process for improvement. This platform can enhance student collaboration and coding skills.
  • What about Del Norte crowdsourcing? Could your project be better with crowdsourcing? Our project could be better with crowdsourcing by asking people in and out of our APCSP class to review our project and give us feedback on things that they liked and things that they would have liked to have.
  • What kind of data could you capture at N@tM to make evening interesting? Perhaps use this data to impress Teachers during finals week. Data that we could capture at N@tm could be quantitative data and qualitative data. For the quantitative data, which includes things such as statistics, numerical results, and charts/graphs, we could collect data so that we can compare what games people played the most or ask people to rate our website from a scale of 1-10. Then to add to that for our qualitative data, which includes things such as personal anecdotes, feedback from users or stakeholders, and quotes from experts in the field, we could ask then to elaborate on their rating t explain what they liked our disliked.