IEEE ISTAS 2021 AI for Literacy

This special session fosters an interdisciplinary conversation with the audience on AI literacy through a roundtable discussion consisting of archivists, digital humanists, literary scholars, and philosophers from several disciplinary backgrounds. The group engages in an open conversation to address a two-part question, namely: how can scholars and the university intervene against technology systems that disproportionately marginalize or discriminate against minorities? And how can they use this intervention to simultaneously platform individuals or groups who can surface counter-narratives within critical discourse surrounding representative technology and its role within the broader fields of policy, geopolitics, and governance? The discussion focuses on (1) the overarching ethical principles guiding collection, processing, and reuse of data; (2) algorithmic bias, including racial bias in data and discriminatory values in design; (3) the situated and relational nature of data, data practices, and data interpretation; and (4) the practical importance of equitable, open-sourced design within public and private institutions.