The Coronavirus Impact

PROJECT SUMMARY

COVID19 Stay safe on mobile device

The Coronavirus Impact

Focus Area(s): All
Research Program: Data

Given the role that automated systems are playing in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from symptom tracking to the dissemination of (mis-) information, this project contributes to a range of related initiatives across the Centre that respond to the exigencies of the pandemic. The focus of this project will be on issues related to automated data collection, sorting, and response in pandemic contexts, and beyond.

As sensor systems are built out and repurposed to collect data in response to the pandemic, including workplace monitoring, contact tracing, or social distancing compliance, new data streams are being generated which are likely to endure beyond the pandemic for a range of uses and raises a host of issues.

RESEARCHERS

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Lead Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Nic Suzor

Prof Nicolas Suzor

Chief Investigator

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Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator

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Kimberlee Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Andrew Kenyon

Prof Andrew Kenyon

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Ellie Rennie

Prof Ellie Rennie

Associate Investigator

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Andrew Roberts

Prof Andrew Roberts

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Robert Sparrow

Prof Robert Sparrow

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Haiqing Yu

Assoc Prof Haiqing Yu

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Frank Pasquale

Prof Frank Pasquale

Partner Investigator

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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Brooklyn Law School logo

Brooklyn Law School

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Data and Society logo

Data & Society Research Institute (US)

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OVIC Logo

Victorian Information Commissioner

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When All Data is Health Data

PROJECT SUMMARY

Health worker with patient using tablet

When All Data is Health Data

Focus Area(s): Health
Research Program: Data

Thanks to the development of automated, passive, sensor systems with algorithmic forms of processing and machine learning, a growing range of data has become relevant to processes of diagnosis and care. Google, for example, envisions that smart speakers will one day be able to diagnose the onset of Alzheimer’s before individuals or caregivers notice symptoms, and the same is true for a variety of illnesses and conditions ranging from the flu to depression. By the same token, researchers have scraped publicly available social media posts to search for patterns that correlate online behaviour with medical conditions. As tech companies move further into the health care sector, all kinds of data can do double duty as health data in ways that may have important benefits, but also raise issues of privacy and data protection.

This project considers the ethical issues raised by new streams of health data, including how best to regulate the use of the data, its storage, and the infrastructures that collect it. It will also explore the ethical and practical issues raised by emerging forms of automated diagnostics and develop recommendations for regulating the data collection infrastructure and the health uses that derive from ubiquitous data collection.

RESEARCHERS

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Lead Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Robert Sparrow

Prof Robert Sparrow

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Frank Pasquale

Prof Frank Pasquale

Partner Investigator

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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OVIC Logo

Victorian Information Commissioner

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Data mapping and ADM to advance humanitarian action and preparedness

PROJECT SUMMARY

Volunteer charity workers

Data mapping and ADM to advance humanitarian action and preparedness

Focus Area(s): Social Services, News & Media
Research Program: Data

Humanitarian organisations and other NGOs are undergoing significant digital transformation. In a complicated digital media environment, new analytics capabilities can improve the role and effectiveness of organisations like Australian Red Cross in building community resilience, expanding volunteer networks, and informing rapid response. New practices for ethically sharing and analysing social media activity and public and open datasets can be combined with internal organisational data analysis to produce intelligent responses and predictive models.

This project aims to operationalise new data partnerships and implement data analysis to improve humanitarian sector work. It contributes to developing new techniques for improving data-driven mapping of community strengths, knowledge and resilience. The work will improve advocacy and preparedness and enhance Red Cross’s data analytics capability.

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Lead Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Associate Investigator

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Daniel Angus

Prof Dan Angus

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator

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Christian Stenta

Christian Stenta

Partner Investigator

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red
Cross

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Data Ethics, Rights, and Markets

PROJECT SUMMARY

Blurred people moving

Data Ethics, Rights, and Markets

Focus Area(s): All
Research Program: Data

The goal of this project is to contribute to the theoretical “backbone” of the ADM+S Centre and help synthesise the findings from projects in different focus areas and research programs through the creation of an historically informed theoretical overview to the social issues associated with the rise of automated decision-making (ADM).

The project supplements the descriptive mapping project (typologies and taxonomies of ADM) with an issue mapping project that connects directly with the core social concerns of the Centre: fairness, ethics, inclusion, and effectiveness.

RESEARCHERS

Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Lead Investigator

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator

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Axel Bruns, Chief Investigator with the ADM+S Centre

Prof Axel Bruns

Chief Investigator

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Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Dan Hunter

Prof Dan Hunter

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Andrew Kenyon

Prof Andrew Kenyon

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Chief Investigator

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Mark Sanderson

Prof Mark Sanderson

Chief Investigator

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Kimberlee Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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Data and Society logo

Data & Society Research Institute (US)

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OVIC Logo

Victorian Information Commissioner

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Automated Decision-Making Empirical Mapping Project

PROJECT SUMMARY

Blurred people crossing street

Automated Decision-Making Empirical Mapping Project

Focus Area(s): All
Research Program: Institutions

This project will develop a theoretical classification to operationalise an empirical mapping program for automated decision-making (ADM). Developing a method that maps ADM in our economy will enable us to track growth and development, and use this as an input into further social science analysis which will be of value for research, strategy and policy.

It will provide much-needed answers to questions including: How much ADM is there in the economy and society? What levels? What distribution? How is it changing through time? How is it distributed by sector, by industry? By demographic?

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Jason Potts

Prof Jason Potts

Lead Investigator

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Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Chief Investigator

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Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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Building Ethical Machines in Social Services: Examining, Evaluating, Building Fairness and Explainability in ADM

PROJECT SUMMARY

A mother and daughter smiling at a garden centre.

Building Ethical Machines in Social Services: Examining, Evaluating, Building Fairness and Explainability in ADM

Focus Area(s): Social Services
Research Program: Machines

A significant area of automated decision-making (ADM) in social services relates to the use of predictive measures – such as predictions of risk to children to abuse/neglect in child protection, predictions of recidivism or crime in policing and criminal justice, predictions of welfare/tax fraud in compliance systems, predictions of long term unemployment in employment services. While earlier and current versions of these systems are based on standard statistical analyses, they are increasingly having machine learning developed and deployed.

Despite these changes in the machine/algorithm design, the issues of bias, fairness and explainability are not substantially shifted and have not been dealt with in the past. Working with computer scientists, lawyers, social scientists, and users of social services, this project will engage with substantive empirical examples of ADM in disability services, child protection, criminal justice and social security to develop an understanding of what social service users and professionals regard as fairness and explanation.

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Lead Investigator

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Dan Hunter

Prof Dan Hunter

Chief Investigator

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Terry Carney

Prof Terry Carney AO

Associate Investigator

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ADM+S Investigator Philip Gillingham

Dr Philip Gillingham

Associate Investigator

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Amelia Radke

Dr Amelia Radke

Associate Investigator

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Paul Harpur

Assoc Prof Paul Harpur

Associate Investigator

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PARTNERS

ACOSS logo

Australian Council of Social Service

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Australian Human Rights Commission logo

Australian Human Rights Commission

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Australian Law Reform Commission logo

Australian Law Reform Commission

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Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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