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Miriam E. Sweeney, PhD

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Uncertain Archives (MIT Press) is available!

2/9/2021

 
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I was so thrilled to receive a copy of Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data in the mail a few weeks ago. This compilation edited by Nanna Thylstrup, Daniela Agostinho, Annie Ring, Catherine D'Ignazio, and Kristin Veel features  critical entries on big data from a wide range of prominent and upcoming media scholars, arranged glossary style. (And, what a beautiful cover!)

The volume contains my own entry, "Digital Assistants", and critically explores the  "commonsense" design practices of smart digital assistants and related technologies.

A pre-print of my chapter is available if you can't get your hands on this excellent book. Otherwise, I recommend taking the time to read through these provocative essays that provide a snapshot of the big data environment and suggestions for our data futures.

Thank you to the editors and authors whose time, labor, and generosity crafted this wonderful resource!

What is socially responsible AI? Broad Science podcast ep available

4/9/2020

 
Photos of interviewees
I was interviewed by the amazing folks at Broad Science for their podcast several months ago. Broad Science is "an initiative dedicated to making science inclusive, engaging, and intersectional," and focuses on "telling science stories from the voices and perspectives that often get overlooked and go untold." I love what they are all about, and recommend checking out their full list of podcast eps on soundcloud.

This episode entitled "What is socially responsible AI?" (aired April 3rd, 2020) features interviews with myself, Dr. Timnit Gebru, Surya Matu, and Dr. Kirk Bansak. The interviewers cover a ton of ground in this episode, including racial profiling, machine bias, interface design, and issues of diversity and inclusion in STEM. We discussed issues of gender and labor in virtual assistant design including the impacts of these technologies in society and broader questions about AI ethics. All of these interviews are fabulous; I start around 42:00, but definitely take the time to listen to the whole thing! 

Thank you to Broad Science for reaching out to me, and wonderful job on this episode!

Available at Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/broad-science/what-is-socially-responsible-ai

New article out about USCIS's Latina virtual assistant "Emma"

7/25/2019

 
My collaborator, Dr. Melissa Villa-Nicholas, and I are proud to announce that our new article,
"Designing the "good citizen" through Latina identity in USCIS's virtual assistant "Emma", is now published in the online issue of Feminist Media Studies!

This paper marks the first of three projects interrogating various cultural, political, and social aspects of Latina AI. Stay tuned for updates on this research!

*You can learn more about Dr. Melissa Villa-Nicholas's pioneering research on Latinx information histories and practices here!
Screenshot of
Abstract:
​Virtual assistants are increasingly integrated as “user-friendly” interfaces for e-government services. This research investigates the case study of the virtual assistant, “Emma,” that is integrated into the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website. We conduct an interface analysis of Emma, along with the USCIS website, and related promotional materials, to explore the cultural affordances of Latina identity as a strategic design for this virtual assistant. We argue that the Emma interface makes normative claims about citizenship and inclusion in an attempt to “hail” Latinx users as ideal citizens. We find that the “ideal” citizen is defined through the Emma interface as an assimilated citizen-consumer that engages with digital technologies in ways that produce them as informationally “legible” to the state.
Cite as: ​Melissa Villa-Nicholas & Miriam E. Sweeney (2019) Designing the “good citizen” through Latina identity in USCIS’s virtual assistant “Emma”, Feminist Media Studies, DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2019.1644657

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