Listen to this podcast series to learn more about how Automated Decision-Making (ADM) is being incorporated, reinvented or resisted as part of everyday lives and how we can make ADM responsible, ethical and inclusive.
Automated decision-making (ADM) promises new levels of personalisation, control and choice in our future lives. ADM has great potential benefits, while it also creates serious new risks to human rights and welfare.
This podcast series features insights from researchers and industry experts on the impacts of automated decision-making on our society.
Digital and Data Literacies For Sexual Health Practices
We talk with Kath Albury about her ARC Future Fellowship Award and her research project: Digital and data literacies for sexual health practices. Kath’s research will engage young adult users of digital apps and social platforms with sexual health policy-makers and professionals to develop knowledge-translation resources for sexual health professionals.
Interview with Kath Albury
Show Notes
On Twitter
Dan Angus @antmandan
Related Reading
Srinivasan and the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland
Ant Colony Optimisation
An overview of the connectionism movement
Modelling Algorithms From Ant Behaviours
In this episode, we talk to Professor Dan Angus about his past research developing algorithms inspired by ant behaviours. Dan talks about his career trajectory from computer science to humanities and social science. He talks about how many algorithms that are in common use today are inspired by biological systems. Dan also reflects on his change in perspective on automated decision-making systems to appreciate not only the strengths of these systems but also the potential harms.
Interview with Daniel Angus
Show Notes
On Twitter
Dan Angus @antmandan
Related Reading
Srinivasan and the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland
Ant Colony Optimisation
An overview of the connectionism movement
How Do Search Engines Decide What We See Online?
With billions of topic searches online per day, search algorithms are used to help filter this information, but how much are they filtering? and how does this impact the information we see online? In this episode, we discuss how researchers at ADM+S are tackling this question through the Australian Search Experience project.
Interview with Professor Jean Burgess, Dr Verity Trott (Monash University), Matthias Spielkamp (AlgorithmWatch) and Abdul Obeid.
Show Notes
On Twitter
Jean Burgess @jeanburgess
Verity Trott @VezzieT
Matthias Spielkamp @spielkamp
Abdul Obeid @aobeid_1
Join the Australian Search Experience
www.admscentre.org.au/searchexperience
Using Fake Followers to Shape Public Opinion
Fake followers are commonly used to boost status on social media. But what happens when they are used to influence public opinion. We talk to Marcel Schliebs about his report on the Public Republic of China creating fake accounts to sway political opinions. We ask whether fake followers really make a difference to boosting Twitter accounts and how much engagement with these accounts is actually real? We also talk with Timothy Graham about his research into hashtags #DictatorDan and #IStandWithDan and the fake accounts behind these trending topics.
Interview with Marcel Schliebs (Oxford Internet Institute) and Dr Timothy Graham.
Show Notes
On Twitter
Marcel Schliebs @m_schliebs
Tim Graham @timothyjgraham
News articles
AP News – Army of fake fans boosts China’s messaging on Twitter
The Conversation – #IStandWithDan, #DictatorDan, #DanLiedPeopleDied: 397,000 tweets reveal the culprits behind a dangerously polarised debate
Report
Oxford Internet Institute – China’s Public Diplomacy Operations
Journal Article
SAGE Journals – #IStandWithDan versus #DictatorDan: the polarised dynamics of Twitter discussions about Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions
Facebook ‘Unfriends’ Australian News
When Facebook removed news from it’s pages on 18 February 2021, the company was taking a strong stance against the proposed news media bargaining code. In this podcast we talk to Dr James Meese, Associate Professor Dan Angus and Dr Belinda Barnet about the ACCC news media bargaining code, the relationship between news and online platforms Google and Facebook and what we learnt from the news ban.
Interview with Dr James Meese, Associate Professor Dan Angus and Dr Belinda Barnet
Show Notes
On Twitter
James Meese @meese_james
Dan Angus @antmandan
Belinda Barnet @manjusrii
Research articles
SAGE Journals – The Institutional Impacts of Algorithmic Distribution: Facebook and the Australian News Media
SAGE Journals – Facebook, news media and platform dependency: The institutional impacts of news distribution on social platforms
News articles
The Conversation – It’s complicated: Australian media firms were breaking up with Facebook long before the infamous 2021 news blackout
ABC News – Facebook’s news ban ‘experiment’ is almost over. Here’s what we’ve learnt
The Guardian – If Facebook carries out its threat, Australian feeds will be awash with even more misinformation
The Spread of Conspiracy Theories
Questions about COVID-19 led to numerous conspiracy theories encouraged by celebrities and tabloids. One notable theory was the link between the new 5G cellular network and the virus. We are joined by Professor Axel Bruns, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society to find out how these conspiracy theories seem to spread so easily.
Interview with Professor Axel Bruns
Show Notes
On Twitter
Axel Bruns @snurb_dot_info
Telstra’s Campaign
Does 5G Spread Coronavirus
Research article
SAGE Journals – ‘Corona? 5G? or both?’: the dynamics of COVID-19/5G conspiracy theories on Facebook
How Are Metrics and Algorithms Changing Journalism?
The media industry has recently faced many changes in the ways that news is gathered, produced and distributed. We talk with Dr Siliva Montaña-Niño about the use of automated decision-making technologies in journalism and the influence of metrics and algorithms on newsgathering, production and distribution.
Interview with Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño
Show Notes
On Twitter
Silvia Montaña-Niño @siximon
Automated Decision-Making and Society
Automated Decision-Making promises to make essential services more personal, and to enhance choice and control for citizens and communities. However, its widespread uptake also creates startling new risks of misuse and malfunction. We talk with Professor Julian Thomas about how research at ADM+S aims to support the development of responsible, ethical and inclusive automated decision-making.
Interview with Professor Julian Thomas
Show Notes
On Twitter
Julian Thomas @juliant09
Automated Decision-Making and the Impact on News and Media
In news and media, automated and algorithmic decision-making systems are used intensively. They can appear in search engines, personalised newsfeeds, content moderation systems, and programmatic advertising. We talk to Professor Jean Burgess, to understand the impact algorithms are having on our news and media.
Interview with Professor Jean Burgess
Show Notes
On Twitter
Jean Burgess @jeanburgess