STS 4040 - [Digital Due Process Clinic]

(SCD-AS, SSC-AS) (D-AG, SBA-AG) (CU-CEL)

Spring. Not offered: 2024-2025. Next offered: 2025-2026. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Permission of instructor and application required.

M. Ziewitz.

Automated scoring systems play an increasingly important role in ordering our lives. Whether we want to obtain a loan, rent an apartment, be found in search results, qualify for government assistance, or make the shortlist for a job – all of these decisions involve a range of computational techniques, including large-scale data analytics and predictive algorithms. So what to do when things go wrong and individuals feel mistreated by these systems? The Due Process Clinic focuses on the capacities of ordinary people to cope with, understand, and challenge automated scoring systems. It involves a mixture of hands-on fieldwork and seminar discussions, ranging from social and technical analyses of scoring practices to the ethical challenges of representing data subjects.