Author: Juliane

Artificial Intelligence and Discrimination

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Roland Becker (CEO & founder of JustAddAI) and Dr. Sirko Straube (German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence – DFKI) invited me to the fourth episode of their podcast Think Reactor to discuss the discriminatory potential of Artificial Intelligence as well as the social and ethical challenges of digital innovation. Other topics they’ve covered so far are: What is AI (episode 1), AI in everyday life (episode 2) and How safe is AI (episode 3). The podcast provides a good introduction to a topic that affects us all in many different ways and also plays an increasingly important role in STS research.

*the podcast is in German.

PodCast

Considering more-than-human participation in co-design with older adults: Implications for a material gerontology

Juliane co-creation, conference, research, talk 0 Comment

Yesterday the first online symposium of the international network on Socio-Gerontechnology took place with more than 100 participants*. The network brings together researchers from different social science and design disciplines who are interested in critical studies of age(ing) and technology. Disciplines include public health, gerontology, sociology, science and technology studies (STS), design research and socio-informatics. Common to the scientists is an interest in the increasing digitalisation of our lives and its effects on the lives of older people, but also our image of age(ing) and the resulting (socio-)political dynamics.

Together with Helen Manchester (University of Bristol) I gave a talk entitled “Considering more-than-human participation in co-design with older adults: Implications for a material gerontology”. In this paper we argue that many gerontechnologies understand age as a problem that requires a technical solution. A good example is the recent article in the New York Times on monitoring technologies that allow children to “keep an eye” on their elderly parents in times of the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem of quarantine is presented as a “matter of fact” that needs to be solved. In our talk, we argue that design should not be understood as problem-solving, but rather as joint problem-making. With this different focus, new actors in design processes emerge and need to be involved. Design is moving from a focus on “Matters of Facts” to a practice that is concerned with “Matters of Care”.

All contributions and a recording of the event will soon be published on the network’s website.

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Sozialverantwortliche Technikgestaltung und Partizipation

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Der September stand für mich unter der Überschrift “Sozialverantwortliche Technikgestaltung und Partizipation”. Zunächst habe ich auf der Mensch und Computer in Hamburg am 8. September am Workshop “Partizipative & sozialverantwortliche Technikentwicklung” teilgenommen und ein Positionspapier zu “Co-creating digital citizenship: Considering the reconfiguration of participation in digital public service design” vorgestellt. Im Workshop trafen sich Wissenschaftler*innen aus ganz Deutschland und diskutierten über die Potenziale und Grenzen des Partizipativen Designs. Anschließend wurde entschieden, dass wir in der Gesellschaft für Informatik eine neue Fachgruppe zu Partizipation gründen möchten. Sie soll einen Raum schaffen, in dem Informatiker*innen sich über (neue) Herausforderungen und Chancen von Partizipation austauschen sowie Konzepte und Methoden weiterentwickeln können.

Am 25. September stellte ich bei der Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Informatik in Kassel einen Beitrag im Track: “Socio-technical Design and Value Orientation” vor. Der gemeinsame Beitrag von Ulrike Gerhard, Herbert Kubicek und mir fasst die Herausforderungen und Chancen der Technikgestaltung mit älteren Menschen zusammen. Er ist in den Lecture Notes in Informatics zu finden.

Schließlich habe ich am 26. September bei der DigitalisierungsConvention einen der beiden Impulsvorträge unter dem Titel: “Paradoxon Künstliche Intelligenz: Chancen und Risiken einer digitalen Gesellschaft gehalten”. Der zweite Impulsvortrag wurde von Roland Becker, Geschäftsführer der Just Add AI GmbH und Initiator von BREMEN.AI gegeben. Die Teilnehmer*innen der DigitalisierungsConvention waren ein bunter Mix aus Vertreter*innen der Wirtschaft, Verwaltung und Wissenschaft. Senatorin Kristina Vogt hielt ein Grußwort, gefolgt von Björn Portillo (bremen digialmedia) und Daniel Schneider (Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum Bremen). In meinem Vortrag bin ich darauf eingegangen, warum es wichtig ist zu verstehen, dass Technik Mittel zur Strukturierung sozialer Ordnung ist und Technikgestaltung immer ein sozialer Aushandlungsprozess. Eine gemeinwohlorientierte Gestaltung unserer Zukunft, bedarf daher der menschzentrierten und partizipativen Technikgestaltung.

 

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20190926_Digitalisierungs-Convention (81)

3rd Data Power Conference

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On September 12 and 13, the third international Data Power Conference took place in Bremen. A total of 170 people from 37 countries took part. More than 120 studies were presented in 34 sessions. The participants came from disciplines as diverse as media and communication studies, geography, sociology, law and computer science. They are united by their interest in critical data studies when researching phenomena such as the increasing quantification of social life, in which data-driven decision-making and governance aspects play an increasingly important role. The aim of the conference was to discuss and reflect upon data power in a global perspective. The keynote speakers of the conference contributed their experiences from China (Jack Linchuan Qiu), India (Nimmi Rangaswamy) and USA (Seeta Peña Gangadharan).

I was involved in the organising committee (which consisted of members of the Universities of Bremen, Sheffield and Carleton). In addition, I presented my joint research with Hendrik Heuer under the title: “The Public Availability of #MachineLearning and its Harmful Secondary Effects”. The next Data Power conference will take place in two years, the location has not yet been decided. Next summer we will publish an edited, open access book with Palgrave featuring some of the most interesting papers of the conference.

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Fotos: Beate C. Koehler

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Am vergangenen Freitag war ich in Berlin zu einem Workshop des Deutschen Internet Instituts (Weizenbaum Institut) auf dem sich die Teilnehmenden die “demokratische Frage” neu stellen wollten. Anwesend waren neben Wissenschaftler*innen aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen, Vertreter*innen von zehn zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen, die durch den Einsatz von Technologie demokratische Prozesse stärken und politisches Handeln transparenter machen wollen (civic tech). Zu den teilnehmenden Civic Tech Akteuren gehörten u.a.

  • Liquid Democracy, möchte demokratische Prozesse durch digitale Applikationen partizipativer, transparenter und egalitärer gestalten. Beispiele für ihre Arbeit sind u.a. die Bürger*innenbeteiligungsplattform meinBerlin oder das Debattenportal der SPD.
  • wepublic ist eine Initiative, die den Dialog mit politischen Parteien stärken möchte und neue Kommunikationswege eröffnet.
  • Kleiner Fünf positioniert sich gegen rechtspopulistische Akteure und möchte deren Wahlergebnisse unter der Fünfprozenthürde halten.
  • FragDenStaat unterstützt Bürger*innen bei dem Zugriff auf staatliche Dokumente und Akten.

In drei parallelen Sessions wurde zu den Themen Deliberation und Partizipation, Populismus und Informierte Öffentlichkeit diskutiert und reflektiert. Zum Beispiel wurde gefragt, wie transparent solche Initiativen wirklich sind und ob nicht lediglich, die Bürger*innen solche Angebote nutzen, die sich auch anderweitig informieren können und an Beteiligungsverfahren teilnehmen. Für das ifib habe ich unsere Erfahrungen im Bereich Bürger*innenbeteiligung und partizipativer Technikentwicklung von digitalen öffentlichen Dienstleistungen beigetragen.

 

Special Issue on Datafication of Education

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Andreas Breiter and I edited a special issue on the datafication in education. It appeared in the journal Learning, Media and Technology. The special issue sheds light on the dynamics of datafication and related transformation of education. Contributions consider data practices that span across different countries, educational fields and governance levels from early childhood education (Bradbury), to schools (Ratner et al; Manolev et al), universities (Jones & McCoy), educational technology providers (Macgilchrist) to educational policy making and governance (Williamson & Piattoeva).

In sum, digital data allow for the analysis of different educational practices to a degree of complexity not previously possible and to a much greater extent, as they can be very detailed, cover a more complete scope and can be flexibly combined. This is increasingly happening in real time due to the power of computers and algorithms. In the near future, sensors will provide further data. As such digital data not only serve to support decisions, but also fundamentally change the organisation of learning and teaching. Thus, digital data not only support decision-making (“data-driven decision making”), but also fundamentally change the organisation of learning and teaching. These transformation processes lead to partly ambivalent consequences, such as new possibilities for participation, but also the monitoring and emergence/manifestation of inequalities.

The editorial can be accessed here, an overview on all contributions here.

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Event at the European Parliament

Juliane co-creation, mobileage, talk 0 Comment

As part of the final activities of the EU-Project Mobile, I attended a meeting of two working groups of Members of the European Parliament last week. The aim of the two-hour event was to exchange views on the opportunities and challenges of co-creation approaches to the development of digital services in age-friendly cities and communities. In particular, we presented our learnings and policy recommendations. To the event entitled: “The future of Europe is co-created. Digital public services for age-friendly cities and communities” was hosted by the Intergroup on Active Ageing, Intergenerational Solidarity and Family issues and the Urban Intergroup. More than 40 representatives* from the European Parliament, the European Commission, national and regional representations in Brussels as well as from other EU and participation projects took part in the events.

Increasingly, public services are provided digitally, but their use is still low. In the recent Ministerial Declaration (EU Tallinn 2017), EU Member States recognised that “more needs to be done” to provide digital public services close to citizens. Part of the challenge is that administrations lack the tools and experience to involve citizens in the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of digital services. As part of our Mobile Age project, we have developed and evaluated co-creation methods with older people, administrations, social service providers and researchers. In addition, a number of practical and accessible mobile applications were developed at pilot sites throughout Europe (Bremen, South Lakeland, Zaragoza and Thessaloniki). For Bremen you can find these applications for the districts Osterholz and Hemelingen on Bremen.De. In my presentation I highlighted the role of local and regional actors in the participatory development of digital services.

Parliamentarians Lambert van Nistelrooij and Jan Olbrycht moderated the following short contributions:

  • Kieran McCarthy, European Committee of the Regions and Cork City Council: Creating a society for digital change and innovation
  • Niall Hayes, University of Lancaster, Organisation, Work and Technology: The Mobile-Age approach for senior-friendly digital public services
  • Konstantinos Kapsouropoulos, European Commission, DG Connect: European policies for age-friendly environments
  • Juliane Jarke, Institute for Information Management, University of Bremen: Participatory digital service design and e-Inclusion
  • Susanna Laurin, CEO Funka, Stockholm: Practical implementation of tools for citizen involvement – A Norwegian government’s study
  • Niall Hayes, University of Lancaster, Organisation, Work and Technology: Accessible digital services for older people
  • Jonathan Brook, Deputy Leader of South Lakeland District Council: Connecting older adults to technological public services

Here you may find the presentation slides. A summary report of the event is published here.

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European Week of Regions and Cities

Juliane co-creation, mobileage, talk 0 Comment

Last Tuesday I  had the opportunity to present MobileAge results during the European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels. The four-day event was attended by around 6000 participants and 600 speakers from all over Europe.

MobileAge was part of a session organised by the European Commission/REA on co-production and co-creation of digital services. Together with two other EU projects, we discussed the challenges and opportunities of co-creation approaches with around 80 participants. After a short introduction to the projects, we worked in three smaller, rotating working groups on the topics of sustainability, governance and citizen involvement.

A short video of the organizers about MobileAge summarizes our results.

Probes as Participatory Design Practice

Juliane co-creation, mobileage 0 Comment

I afront coverm delighted to announce that the Special Issue on Probes as Participatory Design Practice which I co-edited with Susanne Maaß has been published. The special issue is interested in some of the fundamental questions of participatory design: How future users can be involved in design processes in meaningful, empowering and creative ways. The particular focus is on the ways in which (cultural) probes may serve this purpose and can be understood as participatory design practice. The concept of cultural probes was developed by Gaver, Dunne & Pacenti (1999) to collect ideas for creative design solutions from prospective users: A set of materials and questions stimulate users to observe, document, reflect and comment on their own everyday life over a certain period. Examples for such probes are diaries, cameras, postcards or maps. As a means of writing ethnographic self-description and self-disclosure and in combination with interviews or group discussions, they allow to communicate insights into everyday processes and structures, which are difficult to observe or investigate otherwise. Since their first introduction, cultural probes have enjoyed increasing interest in the field of human-centred or user-oriented software design. The concept has been amended to include concepts such as “design probes” (Mattelmäki, 2006), “technology probes” (Hutchinson et al., 2003) or “mobile probes” (Hulkko, Mattelmäki, Virtanen, & Keinonen, 2004) amongst others.

 

All iscreenshotn all, the special issue features five papers that analyse and discuss the use of probes in participatory design contexts, how users may be involved and empowered to design, contest, interpret and reflect on probes; how probes may inform a participatory design process. My colleague Ulrike Gerhard and I have contributed one paper on the use of probes in sharing (tacit) knowing between designers and participants/users and amongst participating users. The paper is based on our research and innovation project MobileAge and is available as open access.