Lecture on "When Social Media Companies, Research Ethics, and Human Rights Collide"

Dr. Mary L. Gray  will offer a new human-data research paradigm for technology’s next wave of social worlds in her talk "When Social Media Companies, Research Ethics, and Human Rights Collide."

Click here for the flyer.

Abstract:

As social media and other tech companies face serious ethical criticism—about privacy, algorithmic bias, emotional manipulation, and other concerns—this talk offers a new “human data research” paradigm for technology’s next wave of social worlds.  Most of these “ethical dilemmas” arise not because bad-intentioned actors, but because methods of investigation and innovation are pushed to capacity and failing us.  For instance, traditional principles of human subject research aren’t suited for online environments today, which are at once familiar software (like a spreadsheet), but also controlled settings (like a lab) and deeply social and dynamic (like a backyard BBQ).  The path forward isn’t in listing an abstract set of principles but hammering out a new, shared course of action that seeks to respect the rights/freedoms of individuals and society in these new online environments.  Researchers and industry need to earn the public’s trust in order to protect their own future.

Speaker biosketch:

Dr. Mary L. Gray is a fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, as well as a senior researcher at Microsoft Research.  She chairs the Microsoft Research Lab Ethics Advisory Board. At Indiana University at Bloomington, Mary maintains a faculty position in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, with affiliations in Anthropology, Gender Studies and the Media School.  

Click here for CENG’s interview of Mary L. Gray.

Event date/time:

Tuesday, Feb 19, 2019 from 11:10am-1:00pm

Location:

Where: Bldg 7 (Adv. Tech. Lab)

Other info:

This talk is free and and open to the public.

The Technology, Policy & Ethics Lecture Series is made possible with the generous support and sponsorship by the College of Liberal Arts’ Lottery Speakers Fund; College of Engineering; Science, Technology, and Society minors program; and the Philosophy Department.  

For questions, please contact:

Dr. Patrick Lin
Professor, Philosophy Dept.
Director, Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group
palin@calpoly.edu
http://ethics.calpoly.edu