Introduction
• “Weapons of Math Destruction” WMDs
• “value-added modeling” algorithm and feedback loops
• “statistical systems require feedback”
• “Ill-conceived mathematical models now micromanage the economy”
• difference between school district WMDs vs. business WMDs?
On the Job
• “clopenings” and scheduling software
• “operations research” (OR) and “Just in Time” manufacturing.
• Cataphora’s idea generation software
• sociometric badges
• Simpson’s paradox and the essential randomness of value-added models
Civic Life
• Facebook’s “voter megaphone” experiment
• Facebook’s “news from friends” experiment
• Facebook’s mood experiment
• focus groups -> direct-mail campaigns -> microtargeting
• proxies for data, profiling buckets. “shift from region to individual”
• television’s move to personalized advertising
Conclusion
• Bottom lines vs. by-products of fairness
• Hippocratic oath for data scientists?
• what would a regulatory system for WMDs look like?
• “mathematical models [are] the engines of the digital economy”
• (how) can Big Data algorithms be used for positive, democratic reasons?