<div dir="ltr">There is some substantial amount of literature pointing to biases in algorithms. Some good case in point is the use of recruitment algorithms by tech firms based in the valley[1] or Google's photo service that misrepresented people of color. These are basically societal and implicit biases taking up digital forms imo. There is also the other case where false positives are introduced by design to provide some semblance of pseudo-privacy. i.e when someone who has been receiving online baby recommendations on a service like Amazon finds motor oil embedded as one of the highly recommended picks. So yes they could be twisted to lie.<div><br></div><div>[1]. <a href="https://civic.mit.edu/blog/chelseabarabas/calculated-bias-the-pitfalls-and-potential-of-algorithmic-recruitment">https://civic.mit.edu/blog/chelseabarabas/calculated-bias-the-pitfalls-and-potential-of-algorithmic-recruitment</a></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 12 May 2016 at 10:43, Nanjira Sambuli via kictanet <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Ali, response to that…of course there’s biased, no such thing as ‘algorithmic neutrality’: <a href="http://www.wired.com/2016/05/course-facebook-biased-thats-tech-works-today/" target="_blank">http://www.wired.com/2016/05/course-facebook-biased-thats-tech-works-today/</a> <div><br><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>On 12 May 2016, at 16:21, <a href="mailto:kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a> wrote:</div><br><div><div>Send kictanet mailing list submissions to<br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a><br>or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><a href="mailto:kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><a href="mailto:kictanet-owner@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet-owner@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..."<br><br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed? (Ali Hussein)<br> 2. Re: Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed? (Ahmed Mohamed Maawy)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 16:52:08 +0300<br>From: Ali Hussein <<a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank">ali@hussein.me.ke</a>><br>To: <a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br>Subject: [kictanet] Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed?<br>Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:94EF7EBE-92E4-43E7-BE18-3865ABC08F9C@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank">94EF7EBE-92E4-43E7-BE18-3865ABC08F9C@hussein.me.ke</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<span class=""><br><br>Listers<br><br>This mail is coped from the Fortune.com Data Sheet.<br><br></span>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?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.<br><br>In case you missed the brouhaha, it started with a report from Gizmodo that profileda 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 right-wing political sites from the section, even when the social network?s data showed they were trending.<br><br>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.<span class=""><br><br>Facebook responded to the story 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 asking the company to answer some questions around political influence and the Trending section.<br><br></span>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.<br><br>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 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.<span class=""><br><br><br>Ali Hussein<br>Principal<br>Hussein & Associates<br><a href="tel:%2B254%200713%20601113" value="+254713601113" target="_blank">+254 0713 601113</a> / 0770906375<br><br>Twitter: @AliHKassim<br>Skype: abu-jomo<br>LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><br><br><br></span>"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought". ~ Albert Szent-Gy?rgyi<br><br>Sent from my iPad<br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <<a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20160512/abe66492/attachment-0001.html" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20160512/abe66492/attachment-0001.html</a>><br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 2<br>Date: Thu, 12 May 2016 17:20:30 +0300<br>From: Ahmed Mohamed Maawy <<a href="mailto:ultimateprogramer@gmail.com" target="_blank">ultimateprogramer@gmail.com</a>><br>To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>><br>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Is Facebook biased on its newsfeed?<br>Message-ID:<br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><<a href="mailto:CAPZHszN5Wt3M2g0OzRrc0%2BAEAOaVNYy1T9PNnD0aom2rAm-4yA@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank">CAPZHszN5Wt3M2g0OzRrc0+AEAOaVNYy1T9PNnD0aom2rAm-4yA@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<span class=""><br><br>There are a number of elements at play here:<br><br></span> 1. Obviously to a great degree this algorithm has massively helped<span class=""><br> Facebook. Not that I am totally on their side, what I mean to say is that<br> lets give credit where its due. Without this algorithm we would have seen<br> massive fallout and loss of klout. This is something Twitter did not figure<br> out so well. LinkedIn is still the place professionals like to hang out,<br> but its not the place professionals like to stay. Just stating how it came<br> to be that Facebook is air and air is life (so to speak).<br></span> 2. If truly there is a bias to all this (which I am yes, yet to<span class=""><br> comprehend how this bias is visible) it can mean 2 things:<br></span> 1. Either content producers are not building influence better than<span class=""><br> those who rank at the top. Or<br></span> 2. If not, there is a genuine market opportunity in this gap.<span class=""><br><br>But algorithms are algorithms, and my experience developing algorithms<br>tells me computer algorithms can not easily be twisted to lie, especially<br>in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.<br><br>But these are all books on their own anyway.<br><br>Just my 2 cents.<br><br>On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 4:52 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <<br><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br><br></span><blockquote type="cite">Listers<br><br>This mail is coped from the Fortune.com <<a href="http://fortune.com" target="_blank">http://fortune.com</a>> Data Sheet.<br><br>The ?Trending? topics section of Facebook seems such a trivial thing, and<br>in many ways it is. It looks and feels like an afterthought?ironically, it<span class=""><br>started as an attempt to copy Twitter<br></span><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3RlY2hjcnVuY2guY29tLzIwMTQvMDEvMTYvZmFjZWJvb2stdHJlbmRpbmcv/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf20eece1" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3RlY2hjcnVuY2guY29tLzIwMTQvMDEvMTYvZmFjZWJvb2stdHJlbmRpbmcv/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf20eece1</a>>?and<br>many users probably don?t even notice it?s there. But now, it has triggered<span class=""><br>a national discussion around bias and the power of social platforms.<br><br>In case you missed the brouhaha, it started with a report from Gizmodo that<br>profiled<br></span><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3dhbnQtdG8ta25vdy13aGF0LWZhY2Vib29rLXJlYWxseS10aGlua3Mtb2Ytam91cm5hbGlzdHMtMTc3MzkxNjExNw/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB4ee70a20" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3dhbnQtdG8ta25vdy13aGF0LWZhY2Vib29rLXJlYWxseS10aGlua3Mtb2Ytam91cm5hbGlzdHMtMTc3MzkxNjExNw/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB4ee70a20</a>>a<span class=""><br>team of anonymous journalists working at Facebook who curate the news that<br>shows up in the Trending section. A subsequent report quoted one of the<br>journalists as saying the team routinely removed certain<br></span><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL2Zvcm1lci1mYWNlYm9vay13b3JrZXJzLXdlLXJvdXRpbmVseS1zdXBwcmVzc2VkLWNvbnNlci0xNzc1NDYxMDA2/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf141c2b3" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL2Zvcm1lci1mYWNlYm9vay13b3JrZXJzLXdlLXJvdXRpbmVseS1zdXBwcmVzc2VkLWNvbnNlci0xNzc1NDYxMDA2/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf141c2b3</a>> right-wing<br>political sites from the section, even when the social network?s data<span class=""><br>showed they were trending.<br><br>The revelation seemed harmless enough, at first: Journalists hired to edit<br>things were actually editing them! But the comment soon snowballed into a<br></span>debate over Facebook?s role in news consumption, and whether its sheer size<span class=""><br>and influence brings with it some level of responsibility.<br><br>Facebook responded to the story<br></span><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3RzdG9ja3kvcG9zdHMvMTAxMDA4NTMwODIzMzc5NTg/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf49ae890" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tL3RzdG9ja3kvcG9zdHMvMTAxMDA4NTMwODIzMzc5NTg/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBf49ae890</a>> by<span class=""><br>saying that its policy is to remain as neutral as possible editorially, and<br>that it will look into reports of misbehavior. Then it issued a second,<br>even more heartfelt response, after the Senate Commerce Committee sent a<br>letter<br></span><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3NlbmF0ZS1nb3AtbGF1bmNoZXMtaW5xdWlyeS1pbnRvLWZhY2Vib29rLXMtbmV3cy1jdXJhdGktMTc3NTc2NzAxOA/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB1d911177" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL2dpem1vZG8uY29tL3NlbmF0ZS1nb3AtbGF1bmNoZXMtaW5xdWlyeS1pbnRvLWZhY2Vib29rLXMtbmV3cy1jdXJhdGktMTc3NTc2NzAxOA/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aB1d911177</a>> asking<span class=""><br>the company to answer some questions around political influence and the<br>Trending section.<br><br></span>The real issue, of course, isn?t the tiny section of the Facebook home<br>page that follows trending topics. It?s the fact that the kind of editorial<span class=""><br>selection those journalists engaged in is happening every minute of every<br>day on the main news feed, courtesy of the Facebook ranking algorithm. And<br>that algorithm, since it is programmed by human beings, inevitably contains<br>biases of all kinds.<br><br>The bottom line is that Facebook is more than just a social network where<br></span>people exchange photos of their pets?it is the largest and most<br>influential<br><<a href="http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3d3dy52b3guY29tLzIwMTYvNS8xMC8xMTY0MDE0MC9mYWNlYm9vay1tZWRpYS1pbmZsdWVuY2U/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBca65e309" target="_blank">http://link.fortune.com/click/6706588.20757/aHR0cDovL3d3dy52b3guY29tLzIwMTYvNS8xMC8xMTY0MDE0MC9mYWNlYm9vay1tZWRpYS1pbmZsdWVuY2U/55ba80258cc2b2e72d8b457aBca65e309</a>> media<span class=""><br>entity the world has ever seen. The sooner Facebook acknowledges that, and<br>becomes part of the discussion around how it can manage its social<br>responsibilities, the better off we will all be.<br><br></span>*Ali Hussein*<br>*Principal*<br>*Hussein & Associates*<span class=""><br><a href="tel:%2B254%200713%20601113" value="+254713601113" target="_blank">+254 0713 601113</a> / 0770906375<br><br>Twitter: @AliHKassim<br><br>Skype: abu-jomo<br><br>LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><br><br><br>"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking<br></span>what no one else has thought". ~ Albert Szent-Gy?rgyi<span class=""><br><br>Sent from my iPad<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>kictanet mailing list<br><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a><br><br>Unsubscribe or change your options at<br><a href="https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ultimateprogramer%40gmail.com" target="_blank">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ultimateprogramer%40gmail.com</a><br><br>The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform<br>for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and<br>regulation. 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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.<br>
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KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Regards,<br><br>Jude Mwenda<br></div></div></div>
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