Author: Dr. Dennis Nguyen

Media and Communications Researcher with particular interest in online media, transnational discourses, crisis communication, public sphere theory, and empirical methods.

WEBINAR: Data Bias and Algorithmic Discrimination

WEBINAR/ONLINE-CONFERENCE ON DECEMBER 3rd (15:00-17:30):

Data Bias and Algorithmic Discrimination

A debate about how data and algorithms shape our society

We would like to invite you to a webinar/online conference on the topic “Data Bias and Algorithmic Discrimination”, with a critical look at how data-driven technologies shape our society. Algorithms thrive on an ever-growing amount of data that enable organisations to categorise, rank, and make decisions about us. Big data and AI hold great potential but can also pose challenges for inclusion, fairness, and ethics in our digital societies. 

We tackle this very complex issue in three panels, each focusing on a central question:

  • What are data bias and algorithmic discrimination?
  • How trustworthy are data and algorithms?
  • Who is accountable/responsible for data biases and algorithmic discrimination?

Experts from AI research, digital media design, digital media studies, law, and governance will discuss trends, problems, solutions, and share their prospects on how to maximise value from the digital transformation with minimal side effects.

The event if hosted fully online, with the opportunity to ask questions via a chat. Register at events.haag @gov.se to receive an invitation. Find a preliminary schedule below (details subject to change).

TimeslotAgenda
14:50(Digital) Walk-in 
15:00“Welcome” by Moderator 
15:05Speech Director IvC Frank Buskermolen 
15:10Speech Swedish Ambassador Annika Markovic 
15:25Panel 1 “What is Data Bias?” (Dennis Nguyen & Christopher Kullenberg) 
15:45Panel 2 “How Trustworthy are Data and Algorithms?”  (Karim Jebari, Koen van Turnhout, Stefan Leijnen) 
16:15Panel 3 “Who is Accountable for Data Biases?” (Aletta Smits, Quirine Eijkman, Carl-Frederik Wettermark) 
16:45Q & A 

About the Event Series

This is the third iteration of what has become an annual cooperation with the University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Embassy in The Hague. In the past with focused on “Freedom of Speech Online” and “Data Ownership”. The events come in the form of mini-conferences but instead of individual presentations we work with “fireside talks” between experts from different domains. He main goal is to stimulate the exchange of ideas between Swedish and Dutch experts and to bring highly urgent yet complex topics to a broader public.

Data Bias as a Challenge for the Digital Society

At our research group Human Experience & Media Design we take a critical look at how data and technology offer value for users. Our research missions on different tech trends just launched – and in my mission I dive deeper into the complex challenge of data bias. Learn more here and join the conversation: 

Missie 2: Data Bias as an Emerging Challenge in the Digital Society

Data Risks, Trust, and Technology Survey

I am currently conducting research on the public perception of data risks, user trust, and digital technology.

The main goal is to probe what lay audiences perceive as the main risks in their daily use of data-driven technologies and how much they trust public and private organisations.

Don’t miss out on sharing your input (it is fully anonymised)!

Here is the English version https://fs4.formsite.com/smitsam/4r5jfnga63/index.html

We also have a Dutch version: https://fs4.formsite.com/smitsam/1d5lwhpxyy/index.html

And a German version:

https://www.thesistoolspro.com/survey/da22r5f7e9a6bafe97

Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash

Defining Data Literacy and Building Trust – How to Include User-Perspectives


Earlier this month I gave a (remote) presentation at the EuroIA conference on data literacy in the context of user-centric digital media design. Read the abstract below and watch the presentation on YouTube:

Over the past years, experts and the public expressed vocal criticism on current data practices across domains in the digital economy. Striking examples involving big tech companies have illustrated what can go wrong in terms of public trust and data collection, data analysis and the usage of that data. Professionals are aware of the (economic and legal) root causes and started to critically reflect on their own roles in the process. The goal is to learn from the past and change society’s perception of technology for the better. This implies a redefinition of value and striving for more transparency, respect for privacy needs, and a stronger inclusion of the user in data practices (collection, analysis, outcomes) during the design process. This all amounts to an additional layer of ‘engagement’. 

Trust took a toll and needs repair. However, in order to build sustainable and trust-based relationships in the digital society, it is crucial to understand users’ awareness, perception, and evaluation of the technologies that designers offer to them, i.e. their data literacy. Perspectives can vary considerably between professionals and laymen of what the costs and benefits of a data-driven solution actually are.

The main aim of this talk is to provide a definition of data literacy and how organisations and designers, especially information architects, can identify different types of users with specific data information needs. It explains when users care (or don’t care) about data collection and how professionals can engage in dialogues that foster trust through inclusion. It provides a blueprint for inclusive, user-focused data practices. Several current examples (such as “Corona apps”) serve for illustrating both the necessity and value of such an approach to develop sustainable and ethical relationships with the target audience in the long-term. The talk thus offers a toolset for hands-on research strategies on the matter.

New Masterclass: Introduction to Data-driven Design (For Professionals, Researchers, and Lecturers)

In cooperation with my colleague Erik Hekman (Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht) we designed a new series of masterclasses on the fundamentals of data-driven design that aims at professionals, researchers, and lecturers in the media, communication, and creative business areas. The sessions are scheduled for April 2020 and will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

The course prepares you for the unique position as an intermediary between academic knowledge and the practical application of that knowledge. You will build up solid expertise for designing user-centered, data-driven solutions as a facilitator between the digital and human domains. Moreover, it teaches you to be aware of the circumstances in which you need to perform your job.

The main perspective in this series of masterclasses is to link academic thinking to practical performance. Aside from critically discussing the fundamental transformations that shape the digital society, as well as its implications for social and economic interaction, you will learn the practical fundamentals of data science. This includes programming skills in Python to load, save, collect, scrape, process, clean, transform, analyze and visualize data. At the end of the course, you will know how to critically examine the opportunities and the limitations of data, code and basic algorithms from a critical, user-focused perspective.

Every masterclass consists of two parts:

  • Theory where you learn and critically discuss transformations in digital society. This part will be conducted in English.
  • Practical skills where you collect, store, clean, transform data from social media and other internet sources with Python programming (including locating sources of open data), and you know how to extend your skills set by independently learning how to gather data from sources or in ways that were not covered during the masterclasses. The projects can be developed in English or Dutch (or German).

Find more information here on the Masterclass Introduction to Data-Driven Design.

Who Owns Your Data? A Critical Debate with Experts from Governance, Research, Law & Business

This week I had the pleasure of hosting another highly urgent, relevant and insightful debate on the digital transformation of modern society. In collaboration with the Swedish Embassy in Den Haag, we met with practitioners for academia, governance, the legal sector and business and discussed how the concept of data ownerships constantly changes and raises critical ethical questions.

Some of the key points that we distilled were:

  • Data sharing needs a new open-source and open-science inspired approach
  • Data sharing models need to beware of social, political and cultural filters that may delimit diversity of stakeholders
  • Data collection and analysis need to have quality and validation checkpoints throughout the process
  • AI already shapes many people’s lives even thought why are not aware of it
  • AI raises critical questions about reproducibility of results and liability for outcome
  • Blockchain is a tech still in its infancy but use cases go way beyond cryptocurrency
  • Blockchain and similar decentralisation technology create transparency but are not a secure or private per se
  • Blockchain is a technology that only makes sense when combined with other systems and does not solve problems when isolated
  • Overall, human oversight and intervention is paramount for ensuring technology is used in the most beneficial way – this ask for diverse strategic coalitions that unite differentiations stakeholders

 

 

How Does Technology Transform Media and Public Opinion? A Conference with the Swedish Embassy in Den Haag at the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht

Last week I had the great privilege to host an event in collaboration with the Swedish embassy in Den Haag, Netherlands, on the highly urgent and somewhat controversial topic of ‘How Does Technology Transform Media & Public Opinion?” at the University of Applied Sciences in Utrecht.

Seven prolific speakers discussed current developments and challenges that come with the digitalisation of public communication and the rise of online platforms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter.

The program was based on ‘fireside talks’ between the invited experts from academia, governments, and media; emphasis was placed on three aspects:

 

  1. Technological Foundations and the Revolution of Communication – How Big Tech Changes the Public Sphere

The first section deals with how the rise of Internet technology first provided seemingly endless potentials to new modes of communication and access to the public for individuals and marginalised groups. News Media is no longer the sole source of mass-distributed information.

The mass distribution of Internet access enabled the rise of big tech companiessuch as Google and Facebook, that responded with constantly evolving services to the needs of a highly interconnected digital society. Leading Internet companies have turned into complex multi-purpose platforms that aim for binding users to their brands with a diversity of functions. They create spheres of increasing economic, cultural and political influence.

The implications for freedom of expression become apparent in transformations in media consumption and production. Traditional news media find themselves in a tough spotbetween ethical considerations, political missions, business goals, and an increasingly sceptical audience with access to countless alternative sources for information. Finally, there is the emerging trend to rely more increasingly on artificial intelligence in many web services which comes with an additional baggage of ethical and political questions.

 

  1. Potentials vs. Threats – Assessing the Pro’s and Con’s for Free Speech

On one hand, there are progressive social movements such as #metoo and Black Lives Matter, that make use of the open accessibility of the Web and highlight how marginalised groups apply freedom of expression in the digital public sphere. On the other, the Web is often a highly toxic place where racism, misogynism, trolling, hate speech, misinformation, and cyberbullying thrive; the so-called ‘Alt-Right’ and current forms of right-wing populism partly originated from or made intensive use of online platforms. Groups apply the technologies in order to organize their members, spread the message, contest mainstream politics and media, and thus framing issues from their world views.

Fake news and filter bubbles are often-cited downsides of the rise of social media and personalised web experiences. But is the situation that black and white? It’s a fact that trust in mainstream politics and media is undermined and questioned and the fact that political factions engage in trench warfare and hate speech in various forms is a widespread problem.

Today, when determining freedom of expression one has to consider that no one really lives a completely private life in the age social media and search engines.

The question is also what the role of businesses, journalists/media and governments is in all of this? There are different levels of ‘public’ communication that are affected by current tech trends and obviously all three play central roles the digital public sphere but the relationships between them are changing.

 

  1. Responsibilities and Remedies

The question of responsibility where different social, economic and political factors need to be considered. Tech is not going away; the Internet is not some separate place we got to but has become an integral part of our daily lives in various ways. What is the role of journalism in a data-driven age? How can companies be creative and innovative without losing sight of mid- to long-term consequences? How can they balance ‘what they can do’ with ‘what they should do’? What is the role of regulators and governments? Finally, what are the responsibilities of the user?

You can watch a recording of the session here!

 

 

 

 

Europe, the Crisis, and the Internet – Now available!

 

 

22256528_1658407790845974_7153997000714402534_o.jpgFinally, the printed version of my first monograph about Europe, the Crisis, and the Internet is available via Palgrave MacMillan! It is based on my PhD research, which I conducted at the University of Hull between 2011-2015.

From the publisher’s website:

This book provides a detailed analysis of the transnational web sphere that emerged at the height of the Eurozone crisis between 2011 and 2013. During these turbulent years, a diverse spectrum of professional communicators from the media and political sectors as well as from opinionated individuals on blogs and social media discussed, and thus framed, the crisis in the digital public sphere. The analysis focuses on the various fields of contestation of the crisis that became detectable in the transnational online discourse and shows how conflict and fragmentation shaped political communication in this context. Nguyen concludes that there was not a single crisis but a chain of intersecting and profound political and cultural conflicts triggered by the economic upheavals, which led to the emergence of an extremely dynamic and unstable transnational digital public sphere, where different political and cultural viewpoints collided.

Soon, I will create a section where readers can download all graphs in higher resolution.

Thanks again to all people who supported this project!

New Book: The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere

The past four months have been incredibly busy, especially since I started a new job as a lecturer in Utrecht. Now that I have finally settled in I hope I will find the time to post here more frequently. I will try to place focus on my research, teaching experiences, as well as interesting developments in (transnational) media politics.

Another reason that kept me from writing for this blog was a publication project that drew a lot of energy/attention in its final stages – but now it’s “done”! In a few months our new volume on the digital transformation of the public sphere and its relation to crisis, conflict and migration will be available (published by Palgrave). Co-edited with my former PhD supervisor Dr Athina Karatzogianni and colleague Dr Elisa Serafinelli I am proud to present a brief sneak preview below.

My chapter proposes an integrative methodology for the analysis of transnational web spheres based on my own research on the EU/Eurozone crisis. Also, I contributed to the chapter on the MIG@NET research project. The next major project is now turning my PhD thesis into a book (in talks with Palgrave as a potential publisher).

 

The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere: Conflict, Migration, Crisis, and Culture in Digital Networks

  • Introduction: The Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere
    Athina Karatzogianni, Dennis Nguyen and Elisa Serafinelli

 

Part I Theorising Migration, Crisis, Culture and Conflict in the Digital Public Sphere

  • The Migration of Normative Principles and the Digital Construction of Transnational Ethics (Martin Gak)
  • The Digital Golden Dawn: Emergence of A Nationalist-Racist Digital Mainstream (Eugenia Siapera and Mariangela Veikou)
  • From Bulletins to Bullets to Blogs and Beyond: The Karen’s Ongoing Communication War (Geff Green)
  • Online Content Control, Memory, and Community Isolation (Artur Matos Alves)
  • The Critique of Videology: Games and the Digital Transformation of the Public Sphere (Luke O’ Sullivan)

 

Part II Cyberconflict and the Digital Diaspora: Nigeria, India, China, Mexico

  • Veterans of Diaspora Activism: An Overview of ICTs Use Among Nigerian Migrant Networks (Shola Olabode)
  • Online Gender Activism in India and the Participation of the Indian Diaspora 2012-2015 (Adrija Dey)
  • Beyond the Great Wall: Locating Expatriate Media Environments in China (Fan Mai)
  • Social Networks and Communicative Meaning in Mexican Migration Networks in the US (Joel Pedraza Mandujano)

 

Part III Migration and Crisis Discourses in the EU Public Sphere

  • Analysing Transnational Web Spheres: The European Example During the Eurozone Crisis (Dennis Nguyen)
  • Intercultural Conflict and Dialogue in the Transnational Digital Public Sphere: Findings from the MIG@NET Research Project (2010-2013)(Athina Karatzogianni, Oxana Morgunova, Nelli Kambouri, Olga Lafazani, NicosTrimikliniotis, Grigoris Ioannou, and Dennis Nguyen)
  • Understanding the Greek Crisis And Digital Media: A Cyberconflict Approach (Ioanna Ferra)
  • Digital Ethnicities and the (Re-)Construction of Ethnic Identities on Social Media (Slavka Karakusheva)
  • Frontex: Its Human Rights Obligations and the Role of the European Ombudsman (Nikos Vogiatzis)

 

Part IV Digital Culture and Communication Shifts in the Public Sphere

  • Political Selfies: Image Events in the New Media Field
    (Achilleas Karadimitriou and Anastasia Veneti)
  • Italian Migrants and Photosharing in the UK (Elisa Serafinelli)
  • The Politics of Transformation: Selfie Production of the Visually Marginalised (Patricia Routh)
  • YouTube, Migrant Rappers and the Early Cinema Aesthetics: Is there a Digital Public Sphere? (Giacomo Nencioni)
  • Banoptikon: Walking Through a Dystopia – European Project MIG@NET’s Digital Game (Ilias Marmaras)

 

BTW: Follow me on Twitter!

 

Image courtesy of Unsplash.com

Quick update – not dead, just distracted

…by preparing my move to Utrecht where I will be working as a lecturer from this month on. As soon as I have finalised the transition to my first work placement after completing my PhD I will post a brief summary of my “post-doc job-hunt” (i.e. an overview of my experiences and advice for all of you who are close to finishing or already have passed their viva).

I was also busy with some other projects, such as writing for a new online magazine with a focus on international and European politics: Vocal Europe. You can read two of my analytical pieces on the Eurozone crisis as well as migration crisis there; both topics continue to dominate most discussions in the transnational public sphere on the continent.

The past few weeks saw heightened activity in the Eurozone crisis discourse, catalysed by the European lenders’ tough stance towards Athens and Alexis Tsipras’ subsequent call for a referendum on the last bailout. Once more, the extremely volatile relation between national sovereignty and transnational “solidarity” almost led to the infamous “Grexit” and a breakdown of European cooperation. Interestingly, the quite hostile dispute between the Greek government and their European counterparts also reinvigorated the left’s case for Euroscepticism – a political domain that was long a stronghold of the (extreme) right. And of course, there is the very peculiar case of Yannis Varoufakis – former Greek finance minister who held his post only shortly (there must be a reason why academics often fail in politics) – who seems to be an iridescent example for increasing personalisation in the otherwise extremely complex and confusing crisis discourse. I will soon post a brief article on the latter phenomenon by comparing him and Tsipras with their German counterparts, their predecessors, and other European politicians.

The cover image shows Hong Kong seen from Victoria’s Peek, which I visited for personal and professional reasons in June.