Responsible DS+AI Speaker Series: Anissa Tanweer

Anissa Tanweer is a research scientist at the University of Washington's eScience Institute. She conducts ethnographic research on the practice and culture of data science and brings a sociotechnical lens to bear on the design of data-intensive research programs. She runs the UW Data Science for Social Good program and has published in journals such as Big Data & Society, Harvard Data Science Review, and Information, Communication & Society. 
 
Abstract: Data-intensive methods and technologies hold great promise, and yet the perils associated with them are becoming ever more apparent—pervasive privacy incursions, algorithmic amplification of bias, and opacity in automated decision-making to name a few. Partial remedies to these problems are under development, including legal and regulatory actions (e.g. GDPR), technical interventions (e.g. fairness metrics), and professional standards (e.g. codes of ethics). In this talk, I argue that we must also attend to the messy, mundane realities of data science in day-to-day practice in order to build the methods, organizations, and cultures that can lead to more ethical data science. I develop insights drawn from the ethnographic observation of data science in action and share practical ideas for how the field can be reformed.  
 
Publications: 

• A. Tanweer (2022). Tradeoffs all the way down: Ethical abduction as a decision-making process for data-intensive technology development. Big Data & Society, 9(1). 
• M. Boenig-Liptsin, A. Tanweer, A. Edmundson (2022). Data Science Ethos Lifecycle: Interplay of ethical thinking and data science practice. Journal for Statistics and Data Science Education. 
• A. Tanweer, E. K. Gade, P. M. Krafft, S. K. Dreier (2021). Why the data revolution needs qualitative thinking. Harvard Data Science Review, 3(3). 

In the Responsible Data Science and AI Speaker Series, we discuss topics such as equity, fairness, biases, ethics, and privacy. The presentations and discussions take place on Fridays from 9:00-10:00 a.m. Central Time on Zoom. The event is open to the public, and everyone is welcome to attend! To join a session, go to the current week's session, click the "access" link, and then the "PARTICIPATE online" button. Recordings of past talks can be found next to "access" if available. This series is hosted by the iSchool's Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS). If you have any questions, please contact Jana Diesner.

If you are interested in this speaker series, please subscribe to the speaker series calendar: Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar.