Seeing without knowing: Limitations of the transparency ideal and its application to algorithmic accountability

New Media and Society - Tập 20 Số 3 - Trang 973-989 - 2018
Mike Ananny1, Kate Crawford2,3,4
1University of Southern California USA
2MIT, USA
3Microsoft Research New York City, USA; New York University, USA; MIT, USA
4New York University, USA

Tóm tắt

Models for understanding and holding systems accountable have long rested upon ideals and logics of transparency. Being able to see a system is sometimes equated with being able to know how it works and govern it—a pattern that recurs in recent work about transparency and computational systems. But can “black boxes’ ever be opened, and if so, would that ever be sufficient? In this article, we critically interrogate the ideal of transparency, trace some of its roots in scientific and sociotechnical epistemological cultures, and present 10 limitations to its application. We specifically focus on the inadequacy of transparency for understanding and governing algorithmic systems and sketch an alternative typology of algorithmic accountability grounded in constructive engagements with the limitations of transparency ideals.

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New Media and Society

Tập 20 Số 3

973-989

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