- nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Youth IGF Italy
by Riccardo Nanni Dec. 11, 2020

Dec. 11, 2020

Care e cari, sono un dottorando in relazioni internazionali dell'Università di Bologna. Sono nuovo in questa mailing list, che però sto seguendo con molto piacere da qualche settimana. Visti gli interessi di Nexa e della sua community, condivido con voi il link per l'iscrizione all'evento annuale di Youth IGF Italy: https://youth-igf-italia-2020.eventbrite.it/?aff=amici Si terrà online dal 14 al 16 dicembre. Spero possiate partecipare in tante e in tanti! Grazie mille! A presto, Riccardo Nanni

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Nuovo link per seguire la diretta streaming della 2° giornata della Conferenza Nexa
by Nexa Media Dec. 11, 2020

Dec. 11, 2020

Gentilissimi, a causa della permanenza di problemi tecnici non dipendenti dalla nostra volontànon sarà possibile collegarsi alla sala online BBB come precedentemente annunciato, ma sarà possibile seguire la diretta streaming della Conferenza Nexa al seguente link: https://youtu.be/ezgfOvrNr8Y <https://youtu.be/ezgfOvrNr8Y> Le *domande dei partecipanti saranno raccolte tramite commenti sui canali YouTube, Twitter**e Facebook del Centro Nexa* e segnalate ai relatori della conferenza dalle persone incaricate della gestione delle fasi di Q&A degli incontri. Cordialmente, -- Anita Botta Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino – DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino _web:_ https://nexa.polito.it/ <https://nexa.polito.it/> _mail:_anita.botta@polito.it <mailto:anita.botta@polito.it> tel: 011 090 7219

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OpenTLC, house-organ di Assoprovider.
by G.Battista Frontera Dec. 11, 2020

Dec. 11, 2020

https://opentlc.it/ Per chi fosse interessato, segnalo il nostro magazine, di cadenza quadrimestrale, prima tiratura 18.000 copie. Al mese dall'uscita cartacea, va on-line. Naturalmente parla di settore e di bottega, ma non solo. Cordialità. Gb Frontera

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Amazon is a minor ecommerce player across much of Europe — here’s why
by Luigi Scorca Dec. 10, 2020

Dec. 10, 2020

https://sifted.eu/articles/amazon-europe-ecommerce-competitors/ Luigi

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Trasmissione della RSI - Radiotelevisione Svizzera sul caso Gebru [WAS: Re: Google's Ethics Effort Is Looking Rather Evil - By Cathy O'Neil
by Diego Latella Dec. 10, 2020

Dec. 10, 2020

Ricevo da Marco Pagani della Radiotelevisione Svizzara, e molto volentieri ritrasmetto l’informazione che a RSI Rete Due, domani alle 17.10, nella trasmissione “Diderot" verrà affrontato il caso Gebru con la partecipazione dell'antropologa S. Broadbent La puntata verrà pubblicata probabilmente lunedì, visto che va in onda domani sera. Il link generico alla trasmissione (dove apparirà anche la puntata in questione) è questo: https://www.rsi.ch/play/radio/programma/diderot---le-voci-dellattualita-?id… <https://www.rsi.ch/play/radio/programma/diderot---le-voci-dellattualita-?id…> Ecco l’abstract della trasmissione: Discriminazione Artificiale La ricercatrice Timnit Gebru, del team etico di Google per l'intelligenza artificiale, è stata licenziata. Anche se Google nega, sono in molti a ritenere questo licenziamento una conseguenza del suo lavoro per portare alla luce le discriminazioni e i pregiudizi che si possono individuare nel funzionamento delle Intelligenze Artificiali. Ne vogliamo parlare con la scienziata sociale e antropologa Stefana Broadbent, docente di antropologia digitale che in passato ha lavorato al NESTA, l’agenzia inglese per l’innovazione, e ha diretto l'Osservatorio degli Usi Digitali di Swisscom. Saluti Diego > On 10 Dec 2020, at 12:00, nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it wrote: > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2020 00:28:51 +0100 > From: Giacomo Tesio <giacomo(a)tesio.it> > To: nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it > Subject: [nexa] Google's Ethics Effort Is Looking Rather Evil - By > Cathy O'Neil > Message-ID: <20201210002851.0000566c(a)tesio.it> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Google used to have a simple motto: Don?t be evil. Now, with the firing > of a data scientist whose job was to identify and mitigate the harm > that the company?s technology could do, it has yet again demonstrated > how far it has strayed from that laudable goal. > > Timnit Gebru was one of Google?s brightest stars, part of a group hired > to work on accountability and ethics in artificial intelligence ? that > is, to develop fairness guidelines for the algorithms that increasingly > decide everything from who gets credit to who goes to prison. She was a > lead researcher on the Gender Shades project, which demonstrated the > flaws of facial recognition software developed by IBM, Amazon, > Microsoft and others, particularly in identifying dark female faces. As > far as I can ascertain, she was fired for doing her job: specifically, > for critically assessing models that allow computers to converse with > people ? an area in which Google is active. > > Full disclosure: It?s hard for me to untangle my opinion on this from > my personal and professional loyalties. I?m not acquainted with Gebru, > but we have quite a few friends in common and I?ve admired her work for > some time. I signed a letter supporting her. I also run an independent > company that specializes in auditing algorithms for bias, so I have an > interest in getting big tech firms to use my services rather than do > their vetting in-house. > > All that said, I genuinely believe that Gebru?s story illustrates a > broader issue: You can?t trust companies to check their own work, > particularly where the result might conflict with their financial > interests. My favorite example is Theranos, which insisted that its > research into a novel blood test was so amazing and valuable that it > couldn?t be shown to outsiders ? until it proved to be a dangerous > fraud. The warning applies no less to tech companies such as Google, > IBM, Microsoft and Facebook, which have created internal ethics groups > and external tools in an effort to display responsibility and keep > their algorithms unregulated. > > I?ll admit that to some extent, I envy the people who work on the > accountability teams. They have fascinating jobs, with access to tons > of data that they?d never be able to play with in academia. At the same > time, though, they have little or no influence to push their employers > to actually implement the fairness frameworks that they so carefully > develop. Their scientific papers are often heavily edited or even > censored, as I learned when I once tried to co-author one (I quit the > project). > > I often wondered about Gebru and others working at Google: How could > they stand the bureaucracy, or express their very real concerns in that > environment? As it turns out, they couldn?t. > > Gebru, along with co-authors from academia as well as Google, was > trying to get the company?s approval to submit a paper on some > unintended consequences of large language models. One problem is that > their energy consumption and carbon footprint have been rapidly > expanding along with their use of computing power. Another is that, > after ingesting a large chunk of the entire history of all written > text, they?re troublingly likely to use nasty, racist or otherwise > inappropriate language. > > The findings, while perfectly good and interesting, were not > particularly new. Which makes it all the more bizarre that someone > higher up at Google decided, with no explanation, that Gebru had to > back out of publishing the paper. When she demanded to know what the > actual complaints were so she could address them, she was fired (with > her boss informed only after the fact). > > Aside from turning the paper viral, the incident offered a shocking > indication of how little Google can tolerate even mild pushback, and > how easily it can shed all pretense of scientific independence. The > fact that Gebru was one of the company?s only Black female researchers > makes it a particularly egregious example of punching down in the same > old tired way. > > Embarrassing as this episode should be for Google ? the company?s CEO > has apologized ? I?m hoping policy makers grasp the larger lesson. The > artificial intelligence that plays a growing role in our lives requires > outside scrutiny, from people who have the proper incentives to be > independent and the power to compel meaningful reform. Otherwise, > algorithms will be doomed to repeat and amplify the flaws of the humans > who made them. > > Tratto da > https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-12-09/google-s-firing-of-ti… > > Qui le "scuse" del CEO di Google > https://www.axios.com/sundar-pichai-memo-timnit-gebru-exit-18b0efb0-5bc3-41… > > > Giacomo > > > > > End of nexa Digest, Vol 140, Issue 25 > ************************************* Dott. Diego Latella - Senior Researcher CNR-ISTI, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy (http:www.isti.cnr.it) FM&&T Lab. (http://fmt.isti.cnr.it) http://www1.isti.cnr.it/~latella/ - ph: +390506212982, mob: +39 348 8283101, fax: +390506212040 =================== I don't quite know whether it is especially computer science or its subdiscipline Artificial Intelligence that has such an enormous affection for euphemism. We speak so spectacularly and so readily of computer systems that understand, that see, decide, make judgments, and so on, without ourselves recognizing our own superficiality and immeasurable naivete with respect to these concepts. And, in the process of sospeaking, we anesthetise our ability to evaluate the quality of our work and, what is more important, to identify and become conscious of its end use. […] One can't escape this state without asking, again and again: "What do I actually do? What is the final application and use of the products of my work?" and ultimately, "am I content or ashamed to have contributed to this use?" -- Prof. Joseph Weizenbaum ["Not without us", ACM SIGCAS 16(2-3) 2–7, Aug. 1986]

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international forum on digital and democracy
by Stefano Quintarelli Dec. 10, 2020

Dec. 10, 2020

Ciao, non so se state seguendo ifdad.org se no, cmq. vi suggerisco di seguire Colin Megill alle 1615 oggi. https://ifdad-events.1rnd.com/ifdad-2020/ ciao, s.

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Trasferimento della Conferenza Nexa in una nuova sala online a causa di problemi tecnici | Invito al pubblico a seguire la diretta streaming della Conferenza Nexa sul canale YouTube del Centro Nexa
by Nexa Media Dec. 10, 2020

Dec. 10, 2020

Gentilissimi, a causa di un guasto hardware all’infrastruttura che gestisce le virtual classroom dellapiattaforma BigBlueButtonnella giornata di oggi non sarà possibile collegarsi alla sala online indicata nelle precedenti comunicazioni; abbiamo pertanto trasferito la Conferenza Nexa in una nuova sala online sulla piattaforma open source di conference call *Jitsi Meet*. Visto il numero elevato di partecipanti invitiamo però il pubblico a seguire la *diretta streaming della Conferenza Nexa* al seguente link:https://youtu.be/Ze8npsHetqA <https://youtu.be/Ze8npsHetqA>per non sovraccaricare il software. Le *domande dei partecipanti saranno raccolte tramite commenti sui canali YouTube, Twitter**e Facebook del Centro Nexa* e segnalate ai relatori della conferenza dalle persone incaricate della gestione delle fasi di Q&A degli incontri. Cordialmente, -- Anita Botta Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino – DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino _web:_ https://nexa.polito.it/ <https://nexa.polito.it/> _mail:_anita.botta@polito.it <mailto:anita.botta@polito.it> tel: 011 090 7219

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Google's Ethics Effort Is Looking Rather Evil - By Cathy O'Neil
by Giacomo Tesio Dec. 9, 2020

Dec. 9, 2020

Google used to have a simple motto: Don’t be evil. Now, with the firing of a data scientist whose job was to identify and mitigate the harm that the company’s technology could do, it has yet again demonstrated how far it has strayed from that laudable goal. Timnit Gebru was one of Google’s brightest stars, part of a group hired to work on accountability and ethics in artificial intelligence — that is, to develop fairness guidelines for the algorithms that increasingly decide everything from who gets credit to who goes to prison. She was a lead researcher on the Gender Shades project, which demonstrated the flaws of facial recognition software developed by IBM, Amazon, Microsoft and others, particularly in identifying dark female faces. As far as I can ascertain, she was fired for doing her job: specifically, for critically assessing models that allow computers to converse with people — an area in which Google is active. Full disclosure: It’s hard for me to untangle my opinion on this from my personal and professional loyalties. I’m not acquainted with Gebru, but we have quite a few friends in common and I’ve admired her work for some time. I signed a letter supporting her. I also run an independent company that specializes in auditing algorithms for bias, so I have an interest in getting big tech firms to use my services rather than do their vetting in-house. All that said, I genuinely believe that Gebru’s story illustrates a broader issue: You can’t trust companies to check their own work, particularly where the result might conflict with their financial interests. My favorite example is Theranos, which insisted that its research into a novel blood test was so amazing and valuable that it couldn’t be shown to outsiders — until it proved to be a dangerous fraud. The warning applies no less to tech companies such as Google, IBM, Microsoft and Facebook, which have created internal ethics groups and external tools in an effort to display responsibility and keep their algorithms unregulated. I’ll admit that to some extent, I envy the people who work on the accountability teams. They have fascinating jobs, with access to tons of data that they’d never be able to play with in academia. At the same time, though, they have little or no influence to push their employers to actually implement the fairness frameworks that they so carefully develop. Their scientific papers are often heavily edited or even censored, as I learned when I once tried to co-author one (I quit the project). I often wondered about Gebru and others working at Google: How could they stand the bureaucracy, or express their very real concerns in that environment? As it turns out, they couldn’t. Gebru, along with co-authors from academia as well as Google, was trying to get the company’s approval to submit a paper on some unintended consequences of large language models. One problem is that their energy consumption and carbon footprint have been rapidly expanding along with their use of computing power. Another is that, after ingesting a large chunk of the entire history of all written text, they’re troublingly likely to use nasty, racist or otherwise inappropriate language. The findings, while perfectly good and interesting, were not particularly new. Which makes it all the more bizarre that someone higher up at Google decided, with no explanation, that Gebru had to back out of publishing the paper. When she demanded to know what the actual complaints were so she could address them, she was fired (with her boss informed only after the fact). Aside from turning the paper viral, the incident offered a shocking indication of how little Google can tolerate even mild pushback, and how easily it can shed all pretense of scientific independence. The fact that Gebru was one of the company’s only Black female researchers makes it a particularly egregious example of punching down in the same old tired way. Embarrassing as this episode should be for Google — the company’s CEO has apologized — I’m hoping policy makers grasp the larger lesson. The artificial intelligence that plays a growing role in our lives requires outside scrutiny, from people who have the proper incentives to be independent and the power to compel meaningful reform. Otherwise, algorithms will be doomed to repeat and amplify the flaws of the humans who made them. Tratto da https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-12-09/google-s-firing-of-ti… Qui le "scuse" del CEO di Google https://www.axios.com/sundar-pichai-memo-timnit-gebru-exit-18b0efb0-5bc3-41… Giacomo

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Schiavi del clic di Antonio A. Casilli - Il Tascabile
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 9, 2020

Dec. 9, 2020

https://www.iltascabile.com/recensioni/schiavi-del-clic-di-antonio-a-casill… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Call for abstracts 8th STS Conference
by Vincenzo Mario Bruno Giorgino Dec. 9, 2020

Dec. 9, 2020

Cari nexiani, approfitto di questa rete per invitarvi a presentare un abstract alla sessione "*How to Protect Communities from Sars CoV-2 through Co-production of Health and the Design of Commons-Based Ecosystems by Adopting Distributed Ledger Technologies?" *per la prossima conferenza di STS Italia. Ecco la nostra presentazione della Open Track on PANDEMIC AND STS: How to Protect Communities from Sars CoV-2 through Co-production of Health and the Design of Commons-Based Ecosystems by Adopting Distributed Ledger Technologies? <https://a7f67c59-118d-44bf-9b5c-7aae7deef875.filesusr.com/ugd/c5e005_950f20…> *Convenors:* Sowelu Avanzo, Vincenzo Giorgino, Guido Boella e Valeria Poli *.* Per maggiori informazioni riguardo alla conferenza e alla sessione, affinchè possiate diffonderla all'interno della vostra rete, vi riporto il testo generale della call for abstract. The *8th STS Italia Conference* <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/> will be hosted by the University of Trieste, Italy, June 17 through 19, 2021, by the Italian Society of Science and Technology Studies. It is our pleasure to announce that the calls for abstract are now open *until December 18th, 2020.* The conference will be an opportunity to present empirical and theoretical work from a variety of disciplines: sociology, anthropology, design, economics, history, law, philosophy, psychology and semiotics. The focal theme of the 8th STS Italia Conference will be "Dis/Entangling Technoscience: Vulnerability, Responsibility and Justice”. This broad theme refers to the complex and ambivalent role of technoscience and innovation in constituting societies – making possibilities flourish, but also creating new vulnerabilities. The conference will include 28 tracks, which are clustered into five thematic streams. The tracks focus on several topics, including: biomedicine, digital platforms and media, work and organizations, expertise and public policy, ethics of technology and innovation, and governance of science and technology at large. Please, see the submission guidelines below, or consult the complete list of tracks. *Abstracts (written in English, or in Italian in case of tracks in two language) should be submitted by December, 18* to the conference email address (stsitaliaconf(a)gmail.com) and to the emails of convenors' selected track. Track Convenor(s) will be responsible for reviewing, accepting/rejecting and organising submissions into their track. *THEMATIC STREAMS* · Biomedicine, bodies and technoscience <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>; · Platforms, digital technologies and media environment <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>s <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>; · Rethinking science, technology and innovation: emerging challenges <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>; · Including, excluding and connecting through / within technoscience <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>; · Governing and reshuffling technoscience and innovation processes <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts>; · Open Track: Science and Technology Studies in Post-socialist countries/in Central and Eastern European countries; <https://www.stsitaliaconf2020.com/call-for-abstracts> · Open Track on PANDEMIC AND STS: How to Protect Communities from Sars CoV-2 through Co-production of Health and the Design of Commons-Based Ecosystems by Adopting Distributed Ledger Technologies? <https://a7f67c59-118d-44bf-9b5c-7aae7deef875.filesusr.com/ugd/c5e005_950f20…> Un saluto cordiale, Vincenzo Giorgino -- A new book https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9783319665917 "One of the great liabilities of life is that all too many people find themselves living amid a great period of social change and yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responses that the new situation demands. They end up sleeping through a revolution." - Martin Luther King, Jr., "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution" Vincenzo Mario Bruno Giorgino, Ph.D. Dept. of Economic and Social Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics University of Torino - Italy

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