A special seminar sponsored by the Department of Statistics and the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. This event is part of the Public Interest Technology Data Science Corps, a summer REU program, in collaboration with Lehman College.
Guest Speaker
Dr. Eric Corbett, Research Scientist, Google’s Ethical AI Team; and Former Smart Cities Postdoc, NYU CUSP
Chaired By: Tian Zheng, Professor of Statistics and Department Chair, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University
The event was held at the Columbia School of Social Work in Room 903; and on Zoom
Talk Information
Supporting Trust in Civic Relationships through Relational Approaches to Technology Design
Abstract: The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and machine learning in civic life has opened a new chapter in the much older academic discourse on trust and technology. Can data-driven technologies resolve long-standing civic distrust? How can new civic relationships be formed around these technologies? How are these technologies changing the nature of trust in civic relationships? Answering these questions requires a relational approach that engages with, rather than reduces, the uncertainty and mess of trust in civic relationships. In this talk, I discuss a relational approach to trust in technological design. By reflecting on my dissertation research in Atlanta and my recent research as a postdoc in New York, I identify three principles of this approach: centering lived experience distance, applying a socio-technical lens, and adopting a humanistic perspective of trust.
Bio: Dr. Eric Corbett (he/him) is a research scientist in Google’s Ethical AI team. He joined Google after being a postdoctoral researcher at New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. His background is in computer science and human computer interaction. He completed a PhD in Digital Media at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was trained in design research: designing technology with people as a mode of social inquiry and analyzing how different approaches to design impact issues of justice and power. He is committed to engaged scholarship and partners with communities, civil society, and government.
