DigEthix: Digital Ethics Today

This episode explores the potential motivations behind Harvard Professor Francesca Gino's data fraud. Data Colada researchers Uri Simonsohn, Leif Nelson and Joe Simmons found significant evidence of data manipulation, which was later given to Harvard. This led to the retraction of four papers and a recommendation to fire Gino.

What might motivate someone to manipulate data and to commit fraud? Dr. Connor Wood explains some troubling trends within Higher Education.

Wood studies what the contemporary sciences have to say about human nature. His PhD in religious studies is from Boston University, and he has written and published widely on the cognitive science of ritual. You can read his Substack here (https://cultureuncurled.substack.com) and learn more about his research here (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Connor-Wood). A convert to Catholicism, Connor writes and translates poetry for fun and also goes rock climbing (usually not at the same time).

Potentially Helpful Links:
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24107889/francesca-gino-lawsuit-harvard-dishonesty-researcher-academic-fraud

https://www.science.org/content/article/honesty-researcher-committed-research-misconduct-according-newly-unsealed-harvard

Harvard Report: https://datacolada.org/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-Report-on-Gino.pdf

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

This episode features an interview with Dr. Jenn Lindsay and Dr. Wesley Wildman on the forthcoming documentary film, ‘Simulating Religious Violence.’ This film explores a team of researchers seeking to build the kind of computational model that I just mentioned. Dr. Lindsay directed the film. She is Professor of Sociology and Communications at John Cabot University and the CEO and head of production at So Fare Films. Dr. Lindsay is an accomplished filmmaker, including the award winning documentary film, Quarantined Faith. Dr. Wildman is Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, and of Computing and Data Sciences. He was one of the researchers involved in creating and deploying the simulation.

The film documents the Modelling Religion Project, which was a three year project made in collaboration between researchers at the Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center (VMASC), the Center for Modeling Social Systems at the University of Agder in Norway, and the Center for Mind and Culture, the home for the Digethix podcast. If you’d like to see the film, it will be premiering at Boston University on November 19th in the Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences Building on the 17th Floor. You can also see it at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in San Diego on November 23rd, and in Rome on March 1st at John Cabot University in Rome.

Premiere event at BU 11/19: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/simulating-religious-violence-premiere-tickets-953785667607

Film website: https://www.sofarefilms.com/simulatingreligiousviolence
Project website: https://mindandculture.org/projects/past-projects/modeling-religion-project/

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

Can you ever have so much data that it becomes unmanageable? Are there ways make the way you use data more effective? In this episode, Seth talks to Lauren Maffeo about how to design a data governance framework that will best suit your needs.

Lauren is a service designer at Steampunk, a human-centered design firm serving the federal government. She is also a founding editor of Springer’s AI and Ethics journal and a former area editor for Data and Policy, an open access journal with Cambridge University Press. She also teaches courses on design at George Washington University. She is the author of the book, Designing Data Governance from the Ground Up: Six Steps to Build a Data-Driven Culture.

Links to more from Lauren:

LinkedIn
Twitter
Book - 35% off E-book with code: DATAGOV23
Lightning talk at Open Source Summit North America

Credits:

Music: “Dreams” from Bensound.com
Episode art: Nicole Smith

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

When ChatGPT dropped in November 2022, it had teachers and students scrambling to figure out what to do with this new service. Seth outlines four main ways to handle ChatGPT in the classroom and notes some pitfalls of using ChatGPT uncritically.

Potentially Helpful Links

Vectoring Words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQddtTdmG_8
AI Models & Language Models: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURRYI66E54
GPT-4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zW33LfffPc&list=PL1v8zpldgH3pQwRz1FORZdChMaNZaR3pu&index=82
https://monkeylearn.com/natural-language-processing/

Credits:

Music: “Dreams” by Benjamin Tissot from Bensound.com
Episode/Podcast Art: Nicole Smith

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

Should you use dating apps? What skills do you need to form a relationship? What role does technology play in our relationships? Ethicist Kate Ott helps us answer these questions and more.

Dr. Ott is the Jerre and Mary Joy Stead Professor of Christian Ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She received her PhD in Christian Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary and her Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School. She is the author of several books, including two on technology, Christian Ethics for a Digital Society and Sex, Tech, and Faith: Ethics for a Digital Age.

Credits:
Intro/outro Song: Dreams, composed by Benjamin Tissot

Potentially Helpful Links:
https://www.pewresearch.org/ft_2020-02-06_datingtakeaways_01/
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/
https://news.stanford.edu/2019/08/21/online-dating-popular-way-u-s-couples-meet/ 

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

How can parents navigate the landscape of technology? How our experience with technology differed by generation? How do we build trust across these generations.

Dr. Brady has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University and currently works as a Professor of Psychology at St. Anselm College.  She has written a forthcoming book on the topic called, Technology Touchpoints: Parenting in the Digital Dystopia. The book explores potential developmental moments that impact kids for the rest of their lives. 

Potentially Helpful Links:
https://lorettalcbrady.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/profbrady
https://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/
https://www.amazon.com/Technology-Touchpoints-Parenting-Digital-Dystopia/dp/1538163926#:~:text=Technology%20Touchpoints%20is%20a%20compelling,our%20families%20and%20our%20lives.

Credits:

"Dreams" by Benjamin Tissot

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

How do we determine what is ethical in technology? How do we do ethical research? How do we bridge gaps in expertise? How do we discover and resolve resolve ethical problems?

In this episode, Dr. Borhane Blili-Hamelin discusses the challenges of interdisciplinary research and his workshop on Twitter's bias bounty program. Bo has a PhD in philosophy from Columbia University. He founded Accountability Case Labs, which seeks to leverage expertise in different fields towards accountability in artificial intelligence Research. Bo currently works as a consultant for BABL AI.

Potentially Helpful Links:

https://borhane.xyz/
https://accountabilitycaselabs.xyz/
https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/topics/insights/2021/algorithmic-bias-bounty-challenge


Credits:

Music: "Dreams" from Bensound.com

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

What is digital ethics? Why should you care? In this episode, we go over some basic definitions and plans for Season 3 of the podcast.

Potentially Helpful Links:

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/technology-ethics/
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250074317/automatinginequality
https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/technology-and-the-virtues-a-philosophical-guide-to-a-future-worth-wanting/

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

What are safety technologies? How do we best utilize our resources in order to prevent tragedies? How does a crisis affect the process of consent?

Ryan Mayfield is the director of strategy at Live Safe, a mobile safety application company looking to connect individuals and safety officials in order to build better communities. Ryan is an expert in safety communications and user engagement, with experience in industry, government, and academia. Together with the Social Computing Systems (SALT) Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he helped publish the first-ever study of safety communications using anonymized user data. A graduate of Stanford University, Ryan remains affiliated with the Stanford University Peace Innovation Lab.

Potentially Helpful Links:

Dave Ropeik book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7122765-how-risky-is-it-really
911 rollout - https://www.nena.org/page/911overviewfacts
Text-to-911 - https://www.911.gov/issue_textto911.html

Credits:

Music: "Dreams" from Bensound.com
Edits: Julia Brukx
Episode art: Julia Donohue

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]

After Dinner Conversation is online ethics magazine and podcast. We discuss the role of stories in exploring ethical situations and how the magazine uses discussion questions to prompt discussion.

How do you personally navigate situations in which you can’t tell immediately if a decision will be right or wrong? In what situations do you find yourself unsure of what choice to make? How has technology impacted the situations that you find yourself feeling this way?

Potentially helpful links:

Magazine: https://www.afterdinnerconversation.com/

Star Trek episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield

Aristotle’s criticisms of democracy: https://fs.blog/aristotles-politics/

Credits:

Music: "Dreams" from Bensound.com
Edits: Julia Brukx
Episode art: Nicole Smith

Contact us:

digethix.org
facebook.com/digethix
twitter.com/digethix
instagram.com/digethixfuture
EMAIL: [email protected]