The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and later on gender identity and sexual orientation. The Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act augmented previous acts to prohibit housing and credit discrimination. Originating in the social sciences, the audit, has emerged as one means of civil rights law enforcement. Housing audits, for example, compare outcomes offered to two equally qualified home seekers in different groups (e.g., different racial groups) by a realtor. While housing audits are mandated in a face-to-face context, what accountability can we expect in an online algorithmically-mediated environment? I this talk, I discuss techniques for approach online audits, and the opportunities and challenges surrounding their operationalization.  

Karrie Karahalios is a University Scholar, Professor of Computer Science, and Co-director of the Center for Just Infrastructures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed an S.B. in Electrical Engineering, an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and an S.M. and Ph.D in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT.  Her main area of research is Social Computing. Research themes include social network analysis, relationship modeling, social media site development, social media feed algorithm awareness/literacy, algorithm audits, social visualization, group dynamics analysis, the creation of tools to encourage speech in children with speech delays, and tools for speech-delay diagnoses. The work has resulted in a book and over 100 publications. She has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society Fellowship, the A. Richard Newton Breakthrough Research Award, an NSF Early Career Award, and an NCSA Fellowship, among others. 

Faculty Host: Nancy Amato