Wednesday 27.9.2023 15:00-17-00 at HSSH, Vuorikatu 3, 2nd floor & Zoom
In this presentation I present a series of AI & Journalism projects undertaken by Data School in collaboration with external media parties. Employing our entrepreneurial research, an approach inspired by Participatory Action Research, we gain valuable access to and data from the industry. Inherent to this approach is that theory and practice enter into direct dialogue.
In the first part, I discuss our collaborations with De Groene Amsterdammer and Algemeen Dagblad and probe different forms of accountability and the role of AI therein. Subsequently, I zoom in on our current project with DPG Media/NU.nl on value-driven recommendations. I share insights from our systematic literature review in which we studied the development, scope and focus of value-aware News Recommendation Systems over time. Additionally, I offer the results from our multi-stakeholder analysis, in which we interrogated the ideals and aspirations for recommendations of different stakeholders and how these are balanced in design shedding light on the “journalist-technologist gap” (Stray 2023) in building news recommenders.
To conclude, based on these projects, I reflect on the promise and peril at the intersection of AI & Journalism more generally. Furthermore, I deliberate on the challenges inherent in our entrepreneurial research approach for academic research.
Karin van Es is Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and project lead of Humanities at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Her research contributes to the emerging field of Critical Data Studies, focusing on the impact of datafication and algorithmization on culture and society. She is co-editor of the edited volumes The Datafied Society (AUP, 2017) and Situating Data (AUP, 2023) and the special issue “Critical Technical Practice(s) in Digital Research” (2023) for Convergence. She has published in outlets such as Big Data & Society, Social Media + Society, Television & New Media, Media, Culture & Society, M/C Journal and First Monday.