Work

The Power of Absence: Thinking with Archival Theory in Algorithmic Design

Year: 2024

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: This paper explores the value of archival theory as a means of grappling with bias in algorithmic design. Rather than seek to mitigate biases perpetuated by datasets and algorithmic systems, archival theory offers a reframing of bias itself. Drawing on a range of archival theory from the fields of history, literary and cultural studies, Black studies, and feminist STS, we propose absence—as power, presence, and productive—as a concept that might more securely anchor investigations into the causes of algorithmic bias, and that can prompt more capacious, creative, and joyful future work. This essay, in turn, can intervene into the technical as well as the social, historical, and political structures that serve as sources of bias.

Source: Designing Interactive Systems Conference

DOI: 10.1145/3643834.3660690

Authors: Jihan Sherman, Romi Morrison, Lauren Klein, Daniela Rosner

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, Emory University, University of Washington

Language: English

Topic: Ethics and Social Impacts of AI

Subfield: Artificial Intelligence

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Science Foundation, Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington

Awards: CAS-Climate DCL: Workshop: Retrofitting Energy Justice, SCC-IRG Track 2: Diaspora, Agriculture, & AI: Community-based Integration of Smart Technologies into Black Diasporic Agricultural Practices, FW-HTF-R: The Future of Equitable Childcare Worker Technologies