[kictanet] Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed?

Thu May 12 18:47:58 EAT 2016

I may be wrong anyway Ali. But maybe its the way I see these 2 disciplines.

But I think Algorithms are more of computations and logic operations.
Machine Learning gives these Algorithms the decision making capabilities
and comprise of a set of algorithms + historic data with the capability to
make predicitions.

On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 6:44 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:

> Ahmed
>
> I stand educated. :-)
>
> Thank you.
>
> Ali Hussein
> Tel: +254 713 601113
> On May 12, 2016 6:42 PM, "Ahmed Mohamed Maawy" <
> ultimateprogramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ali, This is what I mean:
>>
>> Algorithms: a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or
>> other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.
>>
>> Machine Learning: Machine learning is a subfield of computer science that
>> evolved from the study of pattern recognition and computational learning
>> theory in artificial intelligence. In 1959, Arthur Samuel defined machine
>> learning as a "Field of study that gives computers the ability to learn
>> without being explicitly programmed"
>>
>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 6:36 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>>
>>> Ahmed
>>>
>>> Machine learning doesn't happen in a vacuum...
>>>
>>> *Ali Hussein*
>>> *Principal*
>>> *Hussein & Associates*
>>> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>>>
>>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>>>
>>> Skype: abu-jomo
>>>
>>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>>>
>>>
>>> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
>>> what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>
>>> On 12 May 2016, at 6:10 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <
>>> ultimateprogramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I think there is a need to differential Machine Learning and Algorithms
>>> fellows. Machine Learning is where the problem is :)
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 5:55 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <
>>> ultimateprogramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Its not the algorithms Ali, its the Machine Learning process :)
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Ahmed
>>>>>
>>>>> You obviously missed the story of the Microsoft algorithm that was
>>>>> taught to behave like a racist.   :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/24/11297050/tay-microsoft-chatbot-racist
>>>>>
>>>>> My point is that we do seem to forget that all these algorithms are
>>>>> created by humans who have biases.
>>>>>
>>>>> Google is in trouble for deliberately skewing their algorithms to
>>>>> benefit their own products. Not sure this is wrong but the European
>>>>> regulators seem to think so to the extent of threatening them with a 10% of
>>>>> revenue fine..
>>>>>
>>>>> With great power comes great responsibility - so goes the adage..
>>>>>
>>>>> *Ali Hussein*
>>>>> *Principal*
>>>>> *Hussein & Associates*
>>>>> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>>>>>
>>>>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>>>>>
>>>>> Skype: abu-jomo
>>>>>
>>>>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking
>>>>> what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>
>>>>> On 12 May 2016, at 5:20 PM, Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <
>>>>> ultimateprogramer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> There are a number of elements at play here:
>>>>>
>>>>>    1. Obviously to a great degree this algorithm has massively helped
>>>>>    Facebook. Not that I am totally on their side, what I mean to say is that
>>>>>    lets give credit where its due. Without this algorithm we would have seen
>>>>>    massive fallout and loss of klout. This is something Twitter did not figure
>>>>>    out so well. LinkedIn is still the place professionals like to hang out,
>>>>>    but its not the place professionals like to stay. Just stating how it came
>>>>>    to be that Facebook is air and air is life (so to speak).
>>>>>    2. If truly there is a bias to all this (which I am yes, yet to
>>>>>    comprehend how this bias is visible) it can mean 2 things:
>>>>>       1. Either content producers are not building influence better
>>>>>       than those who rank at the top. Or
>>>>>       2. If not, there is a genuine market opportunity in this gap.
>>>>>
>>>>> But algorithms are algorithms, and my experience developing algorithms
>>>>> tells me computer algorithms can not easily be twisted to lie, especially
>>>>> in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
>>>>>
>>>>> But these are all books on their own anyway.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just my 2 cents.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 4:52 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
>>>>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Listers
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This mail is coped from the Fortune.com <http://fortune.com> Data
>>>>>> Sheet.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The “Trending” topics section of Facebook seems such a trivial thing,
>>>>>> and in many ways it is. It looks and feels like an afterthought—ironically,
>>>>>> it started as an attempt to copy Twitter
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3RlY2hjcnVuY2guY29tLzIwMTQvMDEvMTYvZmFjZWJvb2stdHJlbmRpbmcv/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf20eece1>—and
>>>>>> many users probably don’t even notice it’s there. But now, it has triggered
>>>>>> a national discussion around bias and the power of social platforms.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In case you missed the brouhaha, it started with a report from
>>>>>> Gizmodo that profiled
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3dhbnQtdG8ta25vdy13aGF0LWZhY2Vib29rLXJlYWxseS10aGlua3Mtb2Ytam91cm5hbGlzdHMtMTc3MzkxNjExNw/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB4ee70a20>a
>>>>>> team of anonymous journalists working at Facebook who curate the news that
>>>>>> shows up in the Trending section. A subsequent report quoted one of the
>>>>>> journalists as saying the team routinely removed certain
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL2Zvcm1lci1mYWNlYm9vay13b3JrZXJzLXdlLXJvdXRpbmVseS1zdXBwcmVzc2VkLWNvbnNlci0xNzc1NDYxMDA2/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf141c2b3> right-wing
>>>>>> political sites from the section, even when the social network’s data
>>>>>> showed they were trending.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The revelation seemed harmless enough, at first: Journalists hired to
>>>>>> edit things were actually editing them! But the comment soon snowballed
>>>>>> into a debate over Facebook’s role in news consumption, and whether its
>>>>>> sheer size and influence brings with it some level of responsibility.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Facebook responded to the story
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3RzdG9ja3kvcG9zdHMvMTAxMDA4NTMwODIzMzc5NTg/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf49ae890> by
>>>>>> saying that its policy is to remain as neutral as possible editorially, and
>>>>>> that it will look into reports of misbehavior. Then it issued a second,
>>>>>> even more heartfelt response, after the Senate Commerce Committee sent
>>>>>> a letter
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3NlbmF0ZS1nb3AtbGF1bmNoZXMtaW5xdWlyeS1pbnRvLWZhY2Vib29rLXMtbmV3cy1jdXJhdGktMTc3NTc2NzAxOA/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB1d911177> asking
>>>>>> the company to answer some questions around political influence and the
>>>>>> Trending section.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The real issue, of course, isn’t the tiny section of the Facebook
>>>>>> home page that follows trending topics. It’s the fact that the kind of
>>>>>> editorial selection those journalists engaged in is happening every minute
>>>>>> of every day on the main news feed, courtesy of the Facebook ranking
>>>>>> algorithm. And that algorithm, since it is programmed by human beings,
>>>>>> inevitably contains biases of all kinds.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The bottom line is that Facebook is more than just a social network
>>>>>> where people exchange photos of their pets—it is the largest and
>>>>>> most influential
>>>>>> <http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3d3dy52b3guY29tLzIwMTYvNS8xMC8xMTY0MDE0MC9mYWNlYm9vay1tZWRpYS1pbmZsdWVuY2U/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBca65e309> media
>>>>>> entity the world has ever seen. The sooner Facebook acknowledges that, and
>>>>>> becomes part of the discussion around how it can manage its social
>>>>>> responsibilities, the better off we will all be.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *Ali Hussein*
>>>>>> *Principal*
>>>>>> *Hussein & Associates*
>>>>>> +254 0713 601113 / 0770906375
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Skype: abu-jomo
>>>>>>
>>>>>> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and
>>>>>> thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> *Ahmed Maawy*
>>>>> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
>>>>> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
>>>>> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
>>>>> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
>>>>> (KE) +254 714 960 627
>>>>> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>>>>>
>>>>> swahilibox.co.ke
>>>>> www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
>>>>> startupgrind.com
>>>>> ajplus.net
>>>>> www.everylayer.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *Ahmed Maawy*
>>>> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
>>>> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
>>>> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
>>>> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
>>>> (KE) +254 714 960 627
>>>> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>>>>
>>>> swahilibox.co.ke
>>>> www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
>>>> startupgrind.com
>>>> ajplus.net
>>>> www.everylayer.com
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> *Ahmed Maawy*
>>> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
>>> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
>>> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
>>> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
>>> (KE) +254 714 960 627
>>> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>>>
>>> swahilibox.co.ke
>>> www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
>>> startupgrind.com
>>> ajplus.net
>>> www.everylayer.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *Ahmed Maawy*
>> Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
>> Ambassador - Open Knowledge
>> Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
>> Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
>> (KE) +254 714 960 627
>> Skype: ultimateprogramer
>>
>> swahilibox.co.ke
>> www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
>> startupgrind.com
>> ajplus.net
>> www.everylayer.com
>>
>

-- 
*Ahmed Maawy*
Executive Director - SwahiliBox / M-Power (CBO)
Ambassador - Open Knowledge
Director - Startup Grind Mombasa
Software Developer - AJ+ / EveryLayer
(KE) +254 714 960 627
Skype: ultimateprogramer

swahilibox.co.ke
www.okfn.org <http://okfn.org/>
startupgrind.com
ajplus.net
www.everylayer.com
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