MediaFutures WP1 DIGSSCORE-Workshop
2022-06-15 10:00 - 13:00 (Europe/Oslo)
WP1 DIGSSCORE-Workshop
Open for all MediaFutures Partners. The first part will be in English, and the second part will be in Norwegian/Scandinavian.
WHERE: Zoom – https://uib.zoom.us/j/65597060274?pwd=[REDACTED]

Part 1 (10:00 – 11:00) Introduction to DIGSSCORE
10:00-10:05: Welcome
10:05-10:45: Introduction to DIGSSCORE by Erik Knudsen: What is it and what can MediaFutures partners use it for? (20 minutes presentation and 20 minutes for questions)
10:45-11:00 Coffee break
Part 2 (11:00-13:00) WP1 workshop in Scandinavian (with WP1 partners)
11:00-11:15: Introduction to Schibsted’s research interests on hard-to-reach audiences and constructive journalism (10 minutes presentation and 5 minutes for questions)
11:15-11:30: Introduction to NRK’s research interests on constructive journalism (10 minutes presentation and 5 minutes for questions).
11:30-11:45: Discussing and finding overlapping interests for research
11:45-12:00 Coffee break
12:00-12:15: Opportunities for researching constructive journalism and hard-to-reach audiences using DIGSSCORE.
12:15-12:45: Designing the study
12:45-13:00: Summing up and the road ahead

MediaFutures Seminar: Augment the Vision: To Help Users Deal with Different Domain Tasks. PhD Candidate, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
2022-06-15 12:00 - 13:00
Yuchong Zhang, PhD candidate at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, will give a seminar on 15 June, at 12:00.
TITLE: Augment the Vision: To Help Users Deal with Different Domain TasksWHEN: Wednesday 15 June, 12:00-13:00WHERE: MediaFutures

ABSTRACT:
One of the cutting-edge techniques—augmented reality (AR) (a variation of virtual reality (VR)), in which virtual objects are superimposed in the real world–has been demonstrated and applied in numerous fields due to its capability of providing interactive interfaces of visualized digital content. Moreover, AR can provide functional tools that support users undertaking domain-related tasks, especially facilitating them in data visualization and interaction because of its ability to jointly augment the physical space and the user’s perception. How to fully use the advantages of AR technique, especially the items which augment human vision to help users with different domain tasks’ perform is the central part of my PhD research.
BIO:
Yuchong Zhang is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. His research interests include augmented reality, interactive visualization and human-centred design. He received his MSc. degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2017.

MediaFutures Seminar: Mind the Gaps and Normal Accidents with Dirk Hovy. Associate Professor, Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
2022-06-16 14:00 - 15:00
Dirk Hovy, Associate Professor of computer science at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, will give a seminar on 16 June, at 14:00.
TITLE: Mind the Gaps and Normal AccidentsWHEN: Thursday 16 June, 14:00-15:00WHERE: Zoom – https://uio.zoom.us/j/61874196241?pwd=[REDACTED]

Meeting ID: 618 7419 6241

Password: [REDACTED]

ABSTRACT:
NLP is now stable enough to be used in production systems, and will soon become even more pervasive. However, even today’s systems are already highly complex and unpredictable. As they become more ubiquitous, different algorithms will interact with each other directly leading to tightly coupled systems whose capacity to cause harm we will be unable to predict. In his book Normal Accidents, the sociologist Charles Perrow proposed a framework to analyze technologies and their risks according to their complexity and the interdependence of their components. He showed that accidents were nigh on unavoidable due to those two features. We apply Perrow’s framework to NLP to assess its potential risks. We argue that under the current paradigm, “normal accidents” are built into the system, and that it is only a matter of time before they emerge. Some issues in current NLP practice that aid this development are:
– the early adoption of methods without sufficient understanding or analysis;
– the preference for computational methods regardless of risks associated with their limitations;
– the dangers of unexplainable methods.
If these issues are not addressed, we risk a loss of reproducibility, reputability, and subsequently public trust in our field. However, these factors can help us plan better for making our systems safer and more reliable.
BIO:
Dirk Hovy is associate professor of computer science at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Before that, he was faculty and a postdoc in Copenhagen, got a PhD from USC, and a linguistics masters in Germany. He is interested in the interaction between language, society, and machine learning, or what language can tell us about society, and what computers can tell us about language. He has authored over 70 articles on these topics, including 3 best paper awards. He has organized one conference and several workshops (on abusive language, ethics in NLP, and computational social science). Dirk recently received an ERC Starting Grant for a project on demographic factors and bias in NLP. Outside of work, Dirk enjoys cooking, running, and leather-crafting. For updated information, see https://www.dirkhovy.com
