This final report of JRA4 builds on the earlier works defining regulation and governance of the I... more This final report of JRA4 builds on the earlier works defining regulation and governance of the Internet (D4.1, 2012) and conceptual modelling of regulation using a software engineering approach (D4.2, 2013) in order to provide a concluding analysis both integrating those works and bringing fresh insight from the case studies and other research projects of the JRA4 authors in the period 2012 - 14. It proceeds as follows. In Chapter 1, we summarise the five case studies presented in their updated and expanded form as an Annex to this report: 1. Internet addressing infrastructure: ICANN and the DNS (Prof. Bygrave, Oslo) 2. Governance of open data licensing projects: Creative Commons (Dr Morando , NEXA Turin ) 3. Open Hardware Standards: Open Hardware Licenses (Dr Powell, LSE) 4. Net neutrality legislation: the case of Slovenia (Prof. Turk, Ljubljana ). 5. Inter - domain: a far west to regulate (Prof. Salamatian, Savoie). To these five studies, there is the addition of a substantial st...
Sentiment analysis is an increasingly popular metric for news and social media platforms. Alison ... more Sentiment analysis is an increasingly popular metric for news and social media platforms. Alison Powell reflects here on the implications of sentiment analysis and its potential connection with the rise and intensification of emotion-driven politics. The data inputted to ‘train’ algorithms on sentiment analysis has enormous impact and is imbued with assumptions about the world. What mechanisms might make these algorithms more accountable?
Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate social and technological changes and put new politic... more Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate social and technological changes and put new political and public demands on science, technology, and innovation systems. Their urgency clashes with the deliberate slowness of existing responsible innovation and technology ethics practices and processes, while many fast and ad-hoc changes and infrastructures brought about during a crisis become permanent fixtures. This special issue brings together work reflecting in different ways how COVID-19 as an exemplary crisis is creating new challenges for technology ethics. From epidemiological models to contact tracing, biometric recognition, and machine learning-based assisted diagnosis, the different articles show the quandaries of our increasingly datafied health systems.
International Journal of Communication, Oct 13, 2016
This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on T... more This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on Twitter. We analyze a high-stakes political environment, the UK general election of May 2015, asking human volunteers to tweet from purpose-made Twitter accounts-half of which had bots attached-during three events: the last Prime
The future scenarios often associated with IoT oscillate between the peril of IoT for the future ... more The future scenarios often associated with IoT oscillate between the peril of IoT for the future of humanity and the promises for an ever-connected and efficient future. Such a dichotomous positioning creates problems not only for expanding the field of application of the technology, but also ensuring ethical and responsible design and production.
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Communities and Technologies, 2017
What should be our orientation to the socio-technical as climate predictions worsen; ecological c... more What should be our orientation to the socio-technical as climate predictions worsen; ecological crises and wars escalate mass migration and refugee numbers; right-wing populism sweeps through politics; automation threatens workers' jobs and austerity policies destabilize society? What is to be done when it is not "business as usual" and even broken concepts of progress seem no longer to be progressing? We ask how to design for the common good, focusing on human needs for meaning, fulfillment, dignity and decency, qualities which technology struggles to support but can easily undermine. We juxtapose the design of computing that offers hope with that which offers only distraction, propose four modes to design for (being attentive, critical, different and in it together) and conclude with a plea to avoid tools that encourage a blinkered existence at a time of great uncertainty and change.
Introduction to the Special Issue: Wireless Networking for Communities, Citizens and the Public I... more Introduction to the Special Issue: Wireless Networking for Communities, Citizens and the Public Interest
The cultural appropriation of ideas about hacking and opening knowledge have had significant impa... more The cultural appropriation of ideas about hacking and opening knowledge have had significant impact on ways of developing participation in creating public interest knowledge and knowledge commons. In particular, the ideal of hacking as developed through studies of free and open source (F/OS) has highlighted the value of processes of participation, including participatory governance, in relation to the value of expanded accessibility of knowledge, including knowledge commons. Yet, these means and ends are often conflated. This article employs three examples of projects where hacker-inspired perspectives on scientific knowledge conflict with institutional perspectives. Each example develops differently the relationships between means and ends in relation to authority and legitimacy. The article’s analysis suggests that while hacker culture’s focus on authority through participation has had great traction in business and in public interest science, this may come limit the contribution ...
As the Internet, and broadband in particular, becomes a platform for social and political engagem... more As the Internet, and broadband in particular, becomes a platform for social and political engagement, researchers investigate more carefully both the factors that drive broadband adoption and the barriers that constrain it. This paper reports on one of the only large-scale qualitative studies of the barriers to broadband adoption in the United States, where 30% of the population lack broadband access. The primary research question asks: how can we qualitatively understand barriers to broadband adoption among low-income communities? The study's community-based approach, undertaken in four regions of the country, reveals the complex equilibrium of broadband adoption. Drawing from 170 interviews with broadband non-adopters as well as community access providers and other intermediaries, this study finds that price is only one factor shaping home broadband adoption, and that libraries and other community organizations fill the gap between low home adoption and high demand for broadband. These intermediaries compensate for shortages in digital skills that also constitute barriers to adoption in a context where broadband is essential for gaining access to jobs, education, and e-government. These three main findings suggest that low-income people like our research participants are playing roles as actors in an ecology of broadband access games (Dutton et al. 2004). In particular, they are overcoming barriers to being online in order to participate in accessing services and gaining education. This is part of the process of defining broadband as an infrastructure for e-democracy. The paper recommends a renewed focus on factors that sustain home access rather than drive demand, as well as support for community intermediaries in provisioning public broadband access within a context of skill shortages. It recommends further qualitative research to
A synergy between academia and activism has long been a goal of both scholars and advocacy organi... more A synergy between academia and activism has long been a goal of both scholars and advocacy organizations in communications research. The essays in Communications Research in Action demonstrate, for the first time in one volume, how an effective partnership between the ...
This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in ‘... more This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in ‘technology for good’ development contexts. Its main contribution is to model an integrative approach using multiple ethical frameworks to analyse and understand the everyday nature of ethical practice, including in professional practice among ‘technology for good’ start-ups. The paper identifies inherent paradoxes in the ‘technology for good’ sector as well as ethical gaps related to (1) the sometimes-misplaced assignment of virtuousness to an individual; (2) difficulties in understanding social constraints on ethical action; and (3) the often unaccounted for mismatch between ethical intentions and outcomes in everyday practice, including in professional work associated with an ‘ethical turn’ in technology. These gaps persist even in contexts where ethics are foregrounded as matters of concern. To address the gaps, the paper suggests systemic, rather than individualized, considerations o...
The algorithms underpinning many everyday communication processes are now complex enough that ren... more The algorithms underpinning many everyday communication processes are now complex enough that rendering them explainable has become a key governance objective. This article examines the question of 'who should be required to explain what, to whom, in platform environments'. By working with algorithm designers and using design methods to extrapolate existing capacities to explain aglorithmic functioning, the article discusses the power relationships underpinning explanation of algorithmic function. Reviewing how key concepts of transparency and accountability connect with explainability, the paper argues that reliance on explainability as a governance mechanism can generate a dangerous paradox which legitimates increased reliance on programmable infrastructure as expert stakeholders are reassured by their ability to perform or receive explanations, while displacing responsibility for understandings of social context and definitions of public interest
This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in '... more This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in 'technology for good' development contexts. Its main contribution is to model an integrative approach using multiple ethical frameworks to analyse and understand the everyday nature of ethical practice, including in professional practice among 'technology for good' start-ups. The paper identifies inherent paradoxes in the 'technology for good' sector as well as ethical gaps related to (1) the sometimes-misplaced assignment of virtuousness to an individual; (2) difficulties in understanding social constraints on ethical action; and (3) the often unaccounted for mismatch between ethical intentions and outcomes in everyday practice, including in professional work associated with an 'ethical turn' in technology. These gaps persist even in contexts where ethics are foregrounded as matters of concern. To address the gaps, the paper suggests systemic, rather than individualized, considerations of care and capability applied to innovation settings, in combination with considerations of virtue and consequence. This paper advocates for addressing these challenges holistically in order to generate renewed capacity for change at a systemic level.
This final report of JRA4 builds on the earlier works defining regulation and governance of the I... more This final report of JRA4 builds on the earlier works defining regulation and governance of the Internet (D4.1, 2012) and conceptual modelling of regulation using a software engineering approach (D4.2, 2013) in order to provide a concluding analysis both integrating those works and bringing fresh insight from the case studies and other research projects of the JRA4 authors in the period 2012 - 14. It proceeds as follows. In Chapter 1, we summarise the five case studies presented in their updated and expanded form as an Annex to this report: 1. Internet addressing infrastructure: ICANN and the DNS (Prof. Bygrave, Oslo) 2. Governance of open data licensing projects: Creative Commons (Dr Morando , NEXA Turin ) 3. Open Hardware Standards: Open Hardware Licenses (Dr Powell, LSE) 4. Net neutrality legislation: the case of Slovenia (Prof. Turk, Ljubljana ). 5. Inter - domain: a far west to regulate (Prof. Salamatian, Savoie). To these five studies, there is the addition of a substantial st...
Sentiment analysis is an increasingly popular metric for news and social media platforms. Alison ... more Sentiment analysis is an increasingly popular metric for news and social media platforms. Alison Powell reflects here on the implications of sentiment analysis and its potential connection with the rise and intensification of emotion-driven politics. The data inputted to ‘train’ algorithms on sentiment analysis has enormous impact and is imbued with assumptions about the world. What mechanisms might make these algorithms more accountable?
Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate social and technological changes and put new politic... more Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerate social and technological changes and put new political and public demands on science, technology, and innovation systems. Their urgency clashes with the deliberate slowness of existing responsible innovation and technology ethics practices and processes, while many fast and ad-hoc changes and infrastructures brought about during a crisis become permanent fixtures. This special issue brings together work reflecting in different ways how COVID-19 as an exemplary crisis is creating new challenges for technology ethics. From epidemiological models to contact tracing, biometric recognition, and machine learning-based assisted diagnosis, the different articles show the quandaries of our increasingly datafied health systems.
International Journal of Communication, Oct 13, 2016
This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on T... more This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on Twitter. We analyze a high-stakes political environment, the UK general election of May 2015, asking human volunteers to tweet from purpose-made Twitter accounts-half of which had bots attached-during three events: the last Prime
The future scenarios often associated with IoT oscillate between the peril of IoT for the future ... more The future scenarios often associated with IoT oscillate between the peril of IoT for the future of humanity and the promises for an ever-connected and efficient future. Such a dichotomous positioning creates problems not only for expanding the field of application of the technology, but also ensuring ethical and responsible design and production.
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Communities and Technologies, 2017
What should be our orientation to the socio-technical as climate predictions worsen; ecological c... more What should be our orientation to the socio-technical as climate predictions worsen; ecological crises and wars escalate mass migration and refugee numbers; right-wing populism sweeps through politics; automation threatens workers' jobs and austerity policies destabilize society? What is to be done when it is not "business as usual" and even broken concepts of progress seem no longer to be progressing? We ask how to design for the common good, focusing on human needs for meaning, fulfillment, dignity and decency, qualities which technology struggles to support but can easily undermine. We juxtapose the design of computing that offers hope with that which offers only distraction, propose four modes to design for (being attentive, critical, different and in it together) and conclude with a plea to avoid tools that encourage a blinkered existence at a time of great uncertainty and change.
Introduction to the Special Issue: Wireless Networking for Communities, Citizens and the Public I... more Introduction to the Special Issue: Wireless Networking for Communities, Citizens and the Public Interest
The cultural appropriation of ideas about hacking and opening knowledge have had significant impa... more The cultural appropriation of ideas about hacking and opening knowledge have had significant impact on ways of developing participation in creating public interest knowledge and knowledge commons. In particular, the ideal of hacking as developed through studies of free and open source (F/OS) has highlighted the value of processes of participation, including participatory governance, in relation to the value of expanded accessibility of knowledge, including knowledge commons. Yet, these means and ends are often conflated. This article employs three examples of projects where hacker-inspired perspectives on scientific knowledge conflict with institutional perspectives. Each example develops differently the relationships between means and ends in relation to authority and legitimacy. The article’s analysis suggests that while hacker culture’s focus on authority through participation has had great traction in business and in public interest science, this may come limit the contribution ...
As the Internet, and broadband in particular, becomes a platform for social and political engagem... more As the Internet, and broadband in particular, becomes a platform for social and political engagement, researchers investigate more carefully both the factors that drive broadband adoption and the barriers that constrain it. This paper reports on one of the only large-scale qualitative studies of the barriers to broadband adoption in the United States, where 30% of the population lack broadband access. The primary research question asks: how can we qualitatively understand barriers to broadband adoption among low-income communities? The study's community-based approach, undertaken in four regions of the country, reveals the complex equilibrium of broadband adoption. Drawing from 170 interviews with broadband non-adopters as well as community access providers and other intermediaries, this study finds that price is only one factor shaping home broadband adoption, and that libraries and other community organizations fill the gap between low home adoption and high demand for broadband. These intermediaries compensate for shortages in digital skills that also constitute barriers to adoption in a context where broadband is essential for gaining access to jobs, education, and e-government. These three main findings suggest that low-income people like our research participants are playing roles as actors in an ecology of broadband access games (Dutton et al. 2004). In particular, they are overcoming barriers to being online in order to participate in accessing services and gaining education. This is part of the process of defining broadband as an infrastructure for e-democracy. The paper recommends a renewed focus on factors that sustain home access rather than drive demand, as well as support for community intermediaries in provisioning public broadband access within a context of skill shortages. It recommends further qualitative research to
A synergy between academia and activism has long been a goal of both scholars and advocacy organi... more A synergy between academia and activism has long been a goal of both scholars and advocacy organizations in communications research. The essays in Communications Research in Action demonstrate, for the first time in one volume, how an effective partnership between the ...
This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in ‘... more This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in ‘technology for good’ development contexts. Its main contribution is to model an integrative approach using multiple ethical frameworks to analyse and understand the everyday nature of ethical practice, including in professional practice among ‘technology for good’ start-ups. The paper identifies inherent paradoxes in the ‘technology for good’ sector as well as ethical gaps related to (1) the sometimes-misplaced assignment of virtuousness to an individual; (2) difficulties in understanding social constraints on ethical action; and (3) the often unaccounted for mismatch between ethical intentions and outcomes in everyday practice, including in professional work associated with an ‘ethical turn’ in technology. These gaps persist even in contexts where ethics are foregrounded as matters of concern. To address the gaps, the paper suggests systemic, rather than individualized, considerations o...
The algorithms underpinning many everyday communication processes are now complex enough that ren... more The algorithms underpinning many everyday communication processes are now complex enough that rendering them explainable has become a key governance objective. This article examines the question of 'who should be required to explain what, to whom, in platform environments'. By working with algorithm designers and using design methods to extrapolate existing capacities to explain aglorithmic functioning, the article discusses the power relationships underpinning explanation of algorithmic function. Reviewing how key concepts of transparency and accountability connect with explainability, the paper argues that reliance on explainability as a governance mechanism can generate a dangerous paradox which legitimates increased reliance on programmable infrastructure as expert stakeholders are reassured by their ability to perform or receive explanations, while displacing responsibility for understandings of social context and definitions of public interest
This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in '... more This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in 'technology for good' development contexts. Its main contribution is to model an integrative approach using multiple ethical frameworks to analyse and understand the everyday nature of ethical practice, including in professional practice among 'technology for good' start-ups. The paper identifies inherent paradoxes in the 'technology for good' sector as well as ethical gaps related to (1) the sometimes-misplaced assignment of virtuousness to an individual; (2) difficulties in understanding social constraints on ethical action; and (3) the often unaccounted for mismatch between ethical intentions and outcomes in everyday practice, including in professional work associated with an 'ethical turn' in technology. These gaps persist even in contexts where ethics are foregrounded as matters of concern. To address the gaps, the paper suggests systemic, rather than individualized, considerations of care and capability applied to innovation settings, in combination with considerations of virtue and consequence. This paper advocates for addressing these challenges holistically in order to generate renewed capacity for change at a systemic level.
“Smart” cities have been promised for the past twenty years, first in relation to internet techno... more “Smart” cities have been promised for the past twenty years, first in relation to internet technologies imagined as facilitating communication, and more recently in relation to data collection and environmental sensing functions. But cities have also always been political projects, not to mention places of cultural invention and exchange supported by the capacity to communicate (Georgiou, 2013). So technological visions, the infrastructures that result, and the use and interpretation of these infrastructures all create opportunities to observe social struggle. The ‘smart city’ discourse, construction and ideology have already come under criticism, but this short paper identifies some of the attempts to enact social struggle through the material of technical infrastructure. There are some possibilities here to imagine the ‘smart city’ otherwise but there are also significant constraints, including the way that shifts towards ‘government-as-platform’ and reliance on citizens as producers of data intensify surveillance and narrow down citizenship.
In one sense, ‘smart’ cities expect a certain form of citizenship, which is equally a technological and a social citizenship, and that this is narrowing as our ‘communicative citizenship’ shifts to ‘data citizenship’. But in another, their technologies can begin to be material for radical rethinking. While this may never materialize, it is nonetheless present, in different incarnations, that illustrate the dilemmas of mediated citizenship.
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Papers by Alison Powell
In one sense, ‘smart’ cities expect a certain form of citizenship, which is equally a technological and a social citizenship, and that this is narrowing as our ‘communicative citizenship’ shifts to ‘data citizenship’. But in another, their technologies can begin to be material for radical rethinking. While this may never materialize, it is nonetheless present, in different incarnations, that illustrate the dilemmas of mediated citizenship.