5.3 Computing Bias

  • Google “What age groups use Facebook” vs “… TikTok”? What does the data say? Is there purposeful exclusion in these platforms? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business?
    • Facebook usually targets people over 25 years old, while TikTok targets people that are under that age. This is probably not purposeful because the younger generation tends to lean towards fast paced content while the older generation tends to lean towards slower and verbal communication. This is harmful because it tends to become addicting but also it helps divide the information presented to different age groups. This is good business because it allows for ads and other things to be targeted to certain people.
  • Why do virtual assistants have female voices? Amazon, Alexa Google, Apple Siri. Was this purposeful? Is it harmful? Should it be corrected? Is it good business?
    • They have female voices because they tend to be more soothing to the general audience, allowing them to be more comfortable. This leads to them to associate women as an assistant, which could lead to negative impacts. This has already been corrected by allowing users to choose the gender of their voice. This is good business because it leads to more consumers feeling comfortable and liking the product.
  • Talk about an algorithm that influences your decisions, think about these companies (ie FAANG - Facebook, Amazon, Apple,Netflix, Google)
    • Algorithms usually make what is shown to the user appeal to them based on their old search results and histories. It is also trained to look at their age and gender and recommend things based on what others in those groups like. This is true throughout all of the companies that are listed.

Come up with some thoughts on the video and be ready to discuss them as I call on you. Here are some ideas…

  • Does the owner of the computer think this was intentional?
    • Yes, he thought that this was intentional.
  • If yes or no, justify you conclusion.
    • He thinks this is intentional because the camera doesn’t follow his face, while it does follow his white coworker’s face, clearly showing that it works with one skin color btu not another skin color.
  • How do you think this happened?
    • This has probably happened because HP has either not tested this feature with people of dark skin color, but also they could’ve not designed the program correctly in order to work for people of darker skin color.
  • Is this harmful? Was it intended to be harmful or exclude?
    • This is harmful because it excludes certain groups of people from using the device, leading to a consumer shortage for that device, as well as ethical questions from the public upon the company.
  • Should it be corrected?
    • Yes, this should be corrected in order to include the group of people that were excluded from the testing group initially in the use of the product.
  • What would you or should you do to produce a better outcome?
    • In order to produce a better outcome, the product should be tested on a larger group of people, ensuring diversity in the users is possible.

Summary

  • From this section, I have learned that bias is very hard to overcome in anything. This is why testing with multiple different instances in different environments is needed in order to eliminate as much bias as possible. With this, programs will be able to work for anyone without anyone having trouble using them because of how they look or their abilities. There is some bias that is also intentional in order to make the user experience more comfortable for all users, leading to better reviews on the program. With my program, I can not only apply it to students but also people in their daily lives, with their own schedules.

5.4 Crowdsourcing

  • Wikipedia is an example where a large amount of information is sourced from many different sites, leading to mostly accurate information.
  • Crypto also uses crowdsourcing by using multiple processors to process information, verifying that it is correct, leading to the output of money.
  • COVID data allows for areas in society that are contributing and not contributing to the spread of the virus, leading to restrictions being put in place.

Questions

  • CompSci has 150 ish principles students. Describe a crowdsource idea and how you might initiate it in our environment?
    • A crowdsource idea could be having a website with tips and tricks on the class. This would be a Github repository that everyone in the class would be able to edit, leading to the ability for a lot of information on the class and how it works to be gathered. This would help future students who are considering taking the class or already taking the class.
  • What about Del Norte crowdsourcing? Could your project be better with crowdsourcing?
    • Something similar could be created for Del Norte students with all of the different classes in the school, allowing students to help each other with different classes with advice and tricks. My project could be better with crowdsourcing by showing which hallways in the school are more crowded and which ones are easier to get around, allowing for students to find their way around the school faster, rather than getting stuck in “traffic jams”.
  • What kind of data could you capture at N@tM to make evening interesting? Perhaps use this data to impress Teachers during finals week.
    • I could capture data one which classes are taken the most based on different grades. This would allow for “pre-made” schedules, students having the ability to pick a certain schedule type based on what others have taken and are taking at the same time. This would make the program more easily usable, as well as quicker to use.