In the remote workshop, ”Interrogating Human-Centered Data Science: Taking Stock of Opportunities and Limitations”, we will consider efforts, broadly conceived, to humanize data science. We seek participation from individuals who have been involved in reading, writing, teaching, designing, and organizing with an aim to problematize data-intensive technologies and methods, and propose solutions to those problems. Our intent is to push against the current boundaries of human-centered data science and establish an agenda for furthering this area of work. We plan to use this workshop as a launchpad to develop a slate of journal articles for a special issue or to seed one or more funding proposals for innovative research. All workshop activities will be conducted remotely.
February 28th at 11:59pm Anywhere on Earth (i.e., 23:59 in the latest time zone on the planet).
To be considered for participation, please complete the application form (see "Click Here to Apply" button above).
Along with the application form, you will be asked to upload a position paper of 2-3 pages in the ACM primary article template. References may be on an additional page if necessary.
Applicants will be accepted based on a review of their position papers for clarity, relevance to the call for submissions, and uniqueness or originality. Position papers will be circulated and discussed among workshop participants and may be posted to the workshop website with author consent.
At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop. All workshop participants must register for both the workshop and at least one day of the conference. Information about the registration process and fees can be found on the CHI 2022 conference website.
We suggest that you use your position paper to articulate your own experience and expertise as it relates to human-centered data science, and examine the opportunities and limitations of efforts to intervene in data science.
We hope to solicit a set of position papers and workshop discussions that collectively span theory and practice, provocation and pragmatism. Below are some prompts that may be helpful to reflect upon when developing position papers:
What are the strengths of a human-centered lens for interrogating data science, and what possibilities does it obscure or preclude?
What theories, ideas, and methods can complement human-centered approaches or otherwise further the cause of making data science more ethical, responsible, equitable, and beneficial?
What successes have been won in humanizing data science, and what challenges thus far have proved intractable?
Can we map successes and obstacles in using data science in practice?
How might a human-centered approach to data science improve the outputs of data science systems?
What changes in data-science education are needed to expand this approach?
The Zapatistas have stated, “In the world we want many worlds to fit” [24]. Data science prefers unitary and undisputed “facts”—preferably arranged in binary contrasts. How do we need to change our socio-technical practices so as to represent multiple, co-existent, simultaneous knowledges about the data of data science, and the standpoints that give contexts and meanings to those knowledges [17]?
In Ghostwork, Gray and Suri [16] showed that there are many hidden humans “behind” the systems that end-users experience as “AI.” Alkhatib and colleagues have shown in a series of papers that complex aggregate actions can be decomposed into micro-tasks that humans can perform without awareness of the other humans who perform other micro-tasks in the same aggregate action [1]. What is lost and what is gained in such configurations?
Scholars from Fitts [14] to Shneiderman [37] have debated representations and dynamics of human-initiative and/vs. AI-initiative in systems. What is lost and what is gained when the human has the initiative versus when the data science system has the initiative?
Please reach out to Anissa Tanweer <tanweer@uw.edu>, Michael Muller <michael_muller@us.ibm.com>, or any other member of the organizing committee if you have questions, comments, or concerns.