Language and Cultural Diversity in ADM: Australia in the Asia Pacific

PROJECT SUMMARY

Image by Milan Boie

Language and Cultural Diversity in ADM: Australia in the Asia Pacific

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services
Status: Active

This project investigates the challenges and opportunities for cultural and linguistic diversity in automated decision making (ADM) across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Focusing upon language and cultural diversity as the central concern, the project aims to better understand the ways in which AI and ADM may be utilised to promote diversity and social cohesion across our region, in addition to identifying the roles of bias and manipulation in ADM.

Moving beyond the dominant paradigms and voices that inform debates about contemporary technologies (e.g. Anglo-centric and superpowers-focused), the Diversity in ADM project focuses on: (1) culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Australia, and (2) communities across the Asia-Pacific. It has significance in highlighting both the comparative and connecting perspectives, viewpoints and life experiences, and dialogues in relation to ADM and in increasing creativity and problem-solving capabilities in our multicultural society and workplace.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Develop a better understanding of the landscapes of ADM across the region, including the role of NGOs, industry, government and other stakeholders; 
  • Empower community members to participate in dialogues concerning diversity in ADM; and
  • Build capacity for community organisations in collective bargaining with public policymakers for inclusive and equitable ADM policies.

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RESEARCHERS

Haiqing Yu

Prof Haiqing Yu

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Heather Horst

Prof Heather Horst

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Western Sydney

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University
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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Research Fellow,
RMIT University
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Gerard Goggin

Prof Gerard Goggin

Associate Investigator,
University of Western Sydney
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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University
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Dang Nguyen

Dr Dang Nguyen

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University
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Lauren Saling

Dr Lauren Saling

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Xiaofang Yao

Dr Xiaofang Yao

Affiliate,
Federation University

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Prof Jason G. Karlin

Research Partner,
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies,
University of Tokyo, Japan

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Lee Kwang-Suk

Prof Kwang-Suk Lee

Research Partner,
Seoul National University of Science & Technology,
South Korea

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Cheryll soriano

Prof Cheryll Ruth Soriano

Research Partner,
La Salle Institute of Governance and Social Development Research Center,
De La Salle University, The Philippines

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Prof-Jack-Linchuan-Qiu 4x5small

Prof Jack Qiu

Research Partner,
Asian Communication Research Centre,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

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PARTNERS

Digital Asia Hub logo

Digital Asia Hub
(Hong Kong)

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Telstra

Telstra

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COLLABORATORS

Centre for Trusted
Internet and Community

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Leiden Asia
Centre

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The Regulatory Project

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Regulatory Project

Focus Areas:  News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

ADM systems (including AI, foundation models and generative AI) pose ongoing regulatory challenges for Australian governments at every level, and across multiple domains. 

2024-2027 is a critical period for the development of regulation of AI. Worldwide, governments are taking concrete steps to adapt existing laws to technological, social and other changes brought about by expanding uses of AI, and to develop new, risk-based regulatory frameworks.

At the same time others are moving to provide more governance for AI: for example via the development of technical standards and other frameworks. 

The Regulatory Project will contribute to this process, examining fundamental questions that these technologies pose for our regulatory techniques, and engaging research and researchers from across the Centre and the Centre’s partners to inform and respond to regulatory initiatives and quandaries.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Examine and understand the deployment of ADM systems (including AI), by public and private sector actors and across supply chains, and the effect on fundamental legal concepts, such as natural justice (procedural fairness) as it applies to ADM use by government and firms; responsibility, and accountability, delivering critical new knowledge regarding the changing nature of law and regulation in the AI/ADM space; 
  • Examine and analyse emerging regulatory and governance mechanisms for the development and deployment of AI, including their interaction with socio-technical context, in order to understand what mechanisms are emerging, whether they work, and (if so) how;
  • Translate these understandings across other projects and themes in the centre by collaborating on emerging regulatory implications of research and projects across ADM+S; and
  • Provide a hub for ongoing government and policy engagement and to bring legal and regulatory perspectives to research across the Centre.

PUBLIC RESOURCES

GenAI Concepts

Target audience: Government agencies, industry, researchers, general public

This resource offers technical, operational and regulatory terms and concepts for generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), developed in collaboration with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) and the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC).

View website
View PDF guide

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RESEARCHERS

Kim Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Nic Suzor

Prof Nicolas Suzor

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Zofia Bednarz

Dr Zofia Bednarz

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Emeritus Professor Terry Carney

Prof Terry Carney

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Dr Kylie Pappalardo

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Scarlet Wilcock

Dr Scarlet Wilcock

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr Jose-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Annie Luo

Shuxuan (Annie) Luo

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Fan Yang

Dr Fan Yang

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Tegan Cohen

Dr Tegan Cohen

Affiliate,
QUT

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PARTNERS

ABC logo

Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation

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AlgorithmWatch logo

Algorithm Watch
(Germany)

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Consumer Policy Research Centre Logo

Consumer Policy R
esearch Centre

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Cornell Tech logo

Cornell Tech

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OVIC Logo

Victorian Information
Commissioner

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COLLABORATORS

University of Melbourne logo

Centre for Artificial Intelligence
and Digital Ethics (CAIDE)

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CHOICE

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Gradient Institute logo

Gradient Institute

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Generative Authenticity

PROJECT SUMMARY

Generative Authenticity

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Authenticity is a key problem for understanding and managing the impacts of generative AI and synthetic media in society, and a central target for automated decision-making systems in the information and media environment. From trustworthy news reporting to identity verification for social services and the everyday risk of scams, generative AI and synthetic media present significant real-world implications for practitioners, institutions, and publics in Australia and elsewhere. 

A wide range of technical solutions collectively understood as authenticity infrastructure promise to address these issues; but if adopted and embedded at scale, some of these solutions could have potentially significant downstream effects on stakeholders and implications for society.

This project will critically examine the assumptions underpinning these developments and debates, assess the technical and legal challenges associated with them, and explore novel technical responses that contribute to more responsible, ethical and inclusive ADM systems.

In doing so, the project will draw on the multidisciplinary  expertise of the Centre and our partners explore authenticity as both a socio-technical challenge and as a contested cultural idea. We address these challenges in practical and experimental ways within the innovative and Generative AI Test Range environment. It will also examine what happens after any determination of authenticity, including mechanisms for explaining and communicating determinations and increasing trust in such measures.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Produce a cross-disciplinary understanding of the problem of authenticity in the context of Generative AI;
  • Study and map the field of Authenticity-as-a-Service (AaaS), providing a detailed account of its infrastructure, operations, and political economy; 
  • Analyse how the integration of authenticity infrastructure is already playing out in practice in specific sectors, and impacting or likely to impact specific communities;
  • Within the Generative AI Test Range environment, simulate and evaluate competing ADM techniques for addressing the problem of authenticity in a range of real-world scenarios; and
  • Build on our findings to develop improved tools and techniques, and produce and share guidelines for explanation and communication for a range of stakeholders and audiences.

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RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Christopher Leckie

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Jeffrey Chan

Assoc Prof Jeffrey Chan

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Sarah Erfani

Dr Sarah Erfani

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Timothy Graham

Assoc Prof Timothy Graham

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Aaron Snoswell

Dr Aaron Snoswell

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Curtis Huang

Dr Curtis Huang

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S partner investigator Wiebke Loosen

Prof Wiebke Loosen

Partner Investigator
Hans Bredow Institut

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ADM+S Investigator Julia Stoyanovich

Assoc Prof Julia Stoyanovich

Partner Investigator,
New York University

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Mohana Rayaprolu

Mohana Rayaprolu

PhD Student,
QUT

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Ned Watt

Ned Watt

PhD Student,
QUT

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Daniel Binns

Dr Daniel Binns

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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William He

Will He

Affiliate,
QUT

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SilviaMontanaNinWEB

Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Luke Munn

Dr Luke Munn

Affiliate,
The University of Queensland

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Michelle Riedlinger

Dr Michelle Riedlinger

Affiliate,
QUT

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TJ Thomson

Dr TJ Thomson

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Julia Tomassetti

Dr Julia Tomassetti

Affiliate,
Swinburne University

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Kevin Witzenberger

Dr Kevin Witzenberger

Affiliate,
QUT

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PARTNERS

ABC logo

Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation

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Hans Bredow Institut Logo

Hans Bredow
Institut

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GenAISim: Simulation in the Loop for Multi-Stakeholder Interactions with Generative Agents

PROJECT SUMMARY

GenAISim: Simulation in the Loop for Multi-Stakeholder Interactions with Generative Agents

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Traditional decision-making processes often struggle to adapt to the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the modern world. This research addresses a higher-level profound need for advanced automated decision-making tools that can address complex, context-rich challenges in society.

This project will investigate a hybrid decision-making system, leveraging cooperative knowledge from multiple stakeholders through socio-technical observations, and knowledge priors in Large Language Models (LLMs) and open datasets.

It will develop GenAISim, a novel suite of generative and data driven simulations, useful for depicting current and future urban scenarios, including in mobility, urban policymaking, and health domains. Through a multidisciplinary sociotechnical framework of investigation, this project will establish a new simulation in the loop paradigm.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Explore LLM agent-based synthetic data generation techniques to simulate and augment human behaviours in diverse contexts;
  • Develop a robust framework for hypothesis testing of real-world observations and relationships, while avoiding spurious correlations;
  • Investigate diverse stakeholder settings, often with nonoverlapping and potentially conflicting objectives, priorities, constraints, incentives and pain points; and
  • Explore questions around hybrid decision making – if an LLM agent is substituting for a decision maker in contexts.

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RESEARCHERS

Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Hao Xue

Dr Hao Xue

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Jeffrey Chan

Assoc Prof Jeffrey Chan

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Christopher Leckie

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Sarah Erfani

Dr Sarah Erfani

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Danula Hettiachchi

Dr Danula Hettiachchi

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Debora Lanzeni

Dr Debora Lanzeni

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Falk Scholer

Prof Falk Scholer

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Dr Aaron Snoswell

Dr Aaron Snoswell

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Daminao Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Maarten de Rijke

Prof Maarten de Rijke

Partner Investigator,
University of Amsterdam

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ADM+S Partner Investigator Ouri Wolfson

Prof Ouri Wolfson

Partner Investigator,
University of Illinois

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Shohreh Deldari

Dr Shohreh Deldari

Research Fellow,
UNSW

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Annie Luo

Shuxuan (Annie) Luo

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Lihuan LI

Lihuan Li

PhD Student,
UNSW

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wilson Wongso

Wilson Wongso

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Du Yin

Du Yin

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Tiberio Caetoano

Prof Tiberio Caetano

Affiliate,
Gradient Institute

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PARTNERS

Bendigo Health logo

Bendigo
Hospital

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Halmstad University logo

Halmstad
University

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University of Amsterdam logo

University of
Amsterdam

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COLLABORATORS

Gradient Institute logo

Gradient Institute

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University of Illinois

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Critical Capabilities for Inclusive AI

PROJECT SUMMARY

Critical Capabilities for Inclusive AI

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Inclusive AI is related to, but distinct from Responsible AI and the ethical principles and governance frameworks currently in development. At base it involves ensuring that all members of society benefit from AI tools and ADM systems and can participate in their design or respond to their deployment. We see capabilities – machine and human – as central to how inclusive AI might be achieved.

While much of the research focus is currently targeting the features, functions and ‘use cases’ of LLMs and other AI model types, not enough emphasis is placed on the ‘human factors’ or the co-learning and socialisation taking place in real-world settings and among different groups using these tools and systems.

This project addresses the knowledge, skills and literacies – the critical capabilities – needed to achieve inclusive AI in Australia. It will work with research partners, consumers and communities to better understand the capabilities and resources needed to access and use AI tools including Generative AI. Central to the project is the AI Capabilities Lab, a platform and space to experiment, observe and evaluate the use of new AI tools with our industry partners and members of the public.

Through the AI capabilities Lab and participatory research methods, the project will build an evidence base about the shifting lines of expertise, knowledge and decision making in organisational and everyday life settings as people begin to use AI tools.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Develop a model of AI capability and literacy for AI inclusion, tested with key domain areas and target populations;
  • Generate empirical evidence about the way people and organisations are using AI tools, and their potential for alleviating or deepening digital inequalities;
  • Co-design resources with partner organisations and their communities and consumers to enhance inclusive AI literacy and capability and foster responsible forms of ‘social governance’ for AI use and ADM processes; and
  • Develop and test AI capability and usage metrics, test and evaluate AI tools and systems through user studies and explore meta-evaluation approaches for targeted AI tools and applications.

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PUBLICATIONS

Report cover: Relational Ethics in Health Care Automation

Relational Ethics in Health Care Automation

ADM+S Working Paper Series,
16 August 2024

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Paul Henman headshot

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
The University of Queensland

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Profile image of Jackie Leah Scully

Prof Jackie Leach Scully

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Haiqing Yu

Prof Haiqing Yu

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Dr Daniel Binns

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Danula Hettiachchi

Dr Danula Hettiachchi

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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James Meese

Assoc Prof James Meese

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Sharon Parkinson

Assoc Prof Sharon Parkinson

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Julia Stoyanovich

Assoc Prof Julia Stoyanovich

Partner Investigator,
New York University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Awais Hameed Khan profile image

Dr Awais Hameed Khan

Research Fellow,
The University of Queensland

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Amanda Lawrence

Dr Amanda Lawrence

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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TJ Thomson

Dr TJ Thomson

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Julia Tomassetti

Dr Julia Tomassetti

Afilliate,
Swinburne University

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Xiaofang Yao

Dr Xiaofang Yao

Afilliate,
Federation University

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PARTNERS

ABC logo

Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation

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Australian
Red Cross

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Telstra

Telstra

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NYU Ultra Violet Logo

Centre for Responsible AI
New York University

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ADM, Ecosystems and Multispecies Relationships

PROJECT SUMMARY

Person standing in front of large digital screen with landscape image

ADM, Ecosystems and Multispecies Relationships

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Automated Decision-Making (ADM) has become increasingly implicated in the relationships between people and other species and ecosystems. From delivery drones to digital bioacoustics, smart farming, smart garbage trucks to conservation and computation, proliferating ADM-enabled technologies are situated within and interact in complex ways with both social and eco-systems to create new mediations between humans, technologies, animals, and environments with diverse and unexpected consequences.

This project will make an innovative and transformational contribution to the advancement of knowledge about the impacts and entanglements of ADM with ecosystems and the capacity of institutions to make responsible decisions about ADM implementations, practices, and assessments.

 Drawing on interdisciplinary socio-technical research practices, researchers will undertake an inclusive approach that brings together diverse knowledges, methods, and sites. In collaboration with partners and communities this project will produce the ADM+Ecosystem Playbook, a policy and practice tool kit that includes addressing the potential for an environmental impact assessment legislative, policy and standards framework for ADM in Australia.

This project will intervene in the ongoing debates about ‘safe and responsible AI’ to critically examine the ecosystem impacts of ADM/AI and prioritise sustainable futures that benefit society and more-than-human ecologies alike.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • To deliver an original account of how entanglements between ADM systems, diverse human stakeholder groups, other non-human species and Australian ecosystems/environments are evolving, with particular attention to Australia’s unique exposure to climate extremes of heat, drought, flood, and fire and demands of automated technologies to cover distance;
  • To generate new experimental and arts practice based methodologies for investigating, representing and creating public and diverse stakeholder engagement with the relationship between humans, other species and ADM systems, including challenges of environmentally responsible ADM; and
  • To produce accessible, practical recommendations for policies and standards that enable industry, government, civil society and advocacy organisations to apply a responsible and sustainable approach to relations between ADM systems, eco systems and other species, with the aim of intervening in the discourse, conception, and implementation of ‘safe and responsible AI’ and the wider public and civil society understanding of ADM and its impacts.

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RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Yolande Strengers

Prof Yolande Strengers

Project Co-leader and
Associate Investigator,
Monash University
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Loup Cellard

Dr Loup Cellard

Affiliate,
Datactivist/Sciences Partner Organisation
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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Luke Munn

Dr Luke Munn

Affiliate,
University of Queensland
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James Parker

Assoc Prof James Parker

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

Consumer Policy Research Centre Logo

Consumer Policy
Research Centre

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COLLABORATORS

CHOICE

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Humans, Machines, and Decision Responsibility

PROJECT SUMMARY

Businessman using cell phone on subway train

Humans, Machines, and Decision Responsibility

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Research Program: Institutions, Machines
Status: Active

Automated decision-making provokes a range of anxieties around transparency, equality, and accountability. A key response has been the call to ‘re-humanise’ automated decisions, with the hope that human control of automated systems might defend human values from mindless technocracy. Regulation of automated decision-making and AI often embeds this form of human centrism by prescribing a ‘human in the loop’ and the need for automated decisions to be ‘explained’. These requirements are central elements of the risk-based approaches AI regulation currently in development.

Despite their intuitive appeal, empirical research is revealing the limitations and complexities of these approaches. AI explanations sometimes provide little that is useful for decision subjects or decision makers, and risk distracting from more meaningful interrogation of why decisions are made. A human in the loop sometimes functions as a rubber stamp for automated decisions, cleaving accountability away from the true sites of decision responsibility.

This project seeks to generate better understandings of the functions, capacities, and normative role of humans within automated decision systems. It will investigate the ways that automated systems ought to explain or be explained to humans within decision processes, and how elements of decision-making including processes, responsibility, authority, and what counts as a decision itself, are fragmented and redistributed between humans, machines, and organisations. The goal is to generate empirical knowledge of how automated systems, humans, and organisations interact in different contexts when making decisions, and to move past outdated understandings of decisions-making that are hindering effective governance of automation in new decision contexts.

RESEARCHERS

Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Paul Henman headshot

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
University of Queensland

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Chris Leckie

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Awais Hameed Khan profile image

Dr Awais Hameed Khan

Research Fellow,
UQ

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Fan Yang

Dr Fan Yang

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Libby Young

Libby Young

PhD Student
University of Sydney

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Joe Brailsford

Joe Brailsford

Affiliate
University of Melbourne

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Fabio Mattioli

Dr Fabio Mattioli

Affiliate
University of Melbourne

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Christopher O'Neill

Dr Chris O’Neil

Affiliate,
Deakin University

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Ash Watson

Dr Ash Watson

Affiliate,
UNSW

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Australian Digital Inclusion Index

PROJECT SUMMARY

Australian Digital Inclusion Index

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Status: Active

Digital inclusion is about ensuring that all Australians can access and use digital technologies effectively. We are experiencing an accelerating digital transformation in many aspects of economic and social life. Our premise is that everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from digital technologies: to manage their health, access education and services, participate in cultural activities, organise their finances, follow news and media, and connect with family, friends, and the wider world.

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII or “Index”) uses survey data to measure digital inclusion across three dimensions of Access, Affordability and Digital Ability. We explore how these dimensions vary across the country and across different social groups.

In partnership with Telstra and through biennial data collections presented through reports and data visualisation dashboards, the ADII is capturing and communicating the evolving state of digital inclusion in Australia. This is complemented by aligned sub-projects with local, state and federal government departments and community partners to drill down into specific digital inclusion challenges for social groups or geographical regions of interest.

A detailed measure of digital inclusion for Australia allows us to identify the critical barriers to inclusion. These may be related to accessing networks, the costs of devices or data, or skills and literacies. Through these measures, the Index shapes digital equity policy and initiatives, research, and practice to increase digital inclusion in Australia.

Visit the ADII website 

ADII AND RURAL WOMEN ONLINE

In 2024 the ADM+S Australian Digital Inclusion Index team are partnering with the Victorian Women’s Trust for Rural Women Online, a series of free, public events designed in consultation with community representatives to develop digital skills and confidence for women living in regional Victoria.

The programs, taking place in Shepparton and Yackandandah, feature hands-on workshops, drop-in digital support services and presentations from local organisations to develop digital literacy skills.

Established in 1985, the Victorian Women’s Trust (VWT) is a proudly independent feminist organisation which supports women, girls and gender diverse people through social change projects and campaigns, thought-provoking events, mentorship opportunities, and grants for vital grassroots projects.

The ADII research team is collaborating with the Victorian Women’s Trust to study the impact of the program and its ability to help close the gap of digital inclusion in regional areas.

The research team will conduct interviews and support participants in completing surveys to evaluate their experience.

Central to the methodology of the ADII, citizens’ feedback is crucial in determining the impact of initiatives aimed at improving digital inclusion, and identifying areas that need improvement.

ADII partners with Rural women online 2024

MORE INFORMATION

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index uses data from the ADM+S project, Mapping the Digital Gap. Learn more from the project brief below.

PUBLICATIONS

Uncovering digital divide in the western parkland city

Uncovering the digital divide in the Western Parkland City

ADM+S, Telstra, NSW Government, Sydney’s Parkland Councils

Report

Measuring Australia’s Digital Divide: 2023 Australian Digital Inclusion Index

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

Telstra Connected Students: Lessons for Digital Inclusion, 2022

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

Australian Digital Inclusion Index: Measuring Digital Inclusion in North-East Victorian SMEs Summary Findings Brief, 2022

Thomas, J., Parkinson, S., et al.

Report

2021 Digital Inclusion Index

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

Learn more

Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

Learn more

Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

Learn more

Sharon Parkinson

Dr Sharon Parkinson

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Senior Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Assoc Prof Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Senior Research Fellow,
RMIT University

Learn more

Kieran Hegarty

Dr Kieran Hegarty

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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RESEARCH SUPPORT

Lucy Valenta profile image

Lucy Valenta

Research Coordinator,
RMIT University

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PARTNERS

Telstra

Telstra

Visit website

Is Pricing Discriminatory: Testing Automated Decision-Making Systems in Online Insurance Markets

PROJECT SUMMARY

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Is Pricing Discriminatory: Testing Automated Decision-Making Systems in Online Insurance Markets

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Research Program: Data
Status: Active

Advances in data-driven and AI systems are driving significant transformation in the emerging insurance technology (insurtech) sector.

This project investigates the extent to which automated decision-making systems impact the provision of consumer insurance via pricing algorithms which may produce unfair outcomes for particular subsets of society by engaging in proxy and price discrimination.

RESEARCHERS

Kelly Lewis

Dr Kelly Lewis

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

Learn more

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Chief Investigator,
QUT

Learn more

Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

Learn more

Zofia Bednarz

Dr Zofia Bednarz

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

Learn more

Jathan Sadowski

Dr Jathan Sadowski

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

Learn more

ADM+S professional staff Abdul Obeid

Dr Abdul Obeid

Data Engineer,
QUT

Learn more

PARTNERS

CHOICE

Visit website

Consumer Policy Research Centre Logo

Consumer Policy Research Centre

Visit website

Automation and Public Space

PROJECT SUMMARY

LiDAR sensing concept

Automation and Public Space

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status:
 Active

From delivery drones to digital twins to crowd surveillance, automated decision-making technologies and practices are increasingly impacting public and shared space. This project investigates how automated decision-making systems impact public and shared space via sensors that produce actionable digital simulations, artefacts, and interfaces. Through a mixed methods approach, it will examine current and potential effects of automated decision-making on the form, use, and experience of public space.

Technological development in this area is undergoing rapid change. Delivery via autonomous drone requires sensor-driven navigation systems, but the data and models they produce about public space will likely lead to modulations of that space in response. In urban and environmental governance, ‘digital twins’ are increasingly to monitor environments in real-time, simulate the impact of potential changes, and even implement those changes directly. Technologies such as these are not only increasingly deployed in Australia, but are also invented, designed, and tested here too, often in proximity to defence and defence industries.

Understanding how tools of automated spatiality reconfigure environments and the role of policy and industry in their innovation and uptake will generate new knowledge about a critical point of convergence between public space, technology, defence, and industry with national significance, as well as implications for international jurisdictions facing similar changes and challenges.

Over 3 years commencing in 2022, the project aims to answer the following questions:
• How is space-making automated across different technologies and contexts? What logics, techniques and practices are shared? What are distinct to different contexts?
• How does automated spatiality lead to the reconfiguring of public space?
• How are digital infrastructures, such as unmanned traffic management systems for civilian airspace, imagined, organised, and regulated?
• How do policy settings, industrial demands, and defence priorities shape the development and application of technologies of automated spatiality?

PUBLICATIONS

Andrejevic, M.

Journal article

Biometric Re-bordering: Environmental Control During Pandemic Times, 2022

Andrejevic, M., Volcic, Z.

Journal article

Seeing Like a Border, 2021

Andrejevic, M., Volcic, Z.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Lead Investigator,
UNSW

Learn more

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

Learn more

Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

Learn more

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

Learn more

Jathan Sadowski

Dr Jathan Sadowski

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

Learn more

Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

Learn more

Kelly Lewis

Dr Kelly Lewis

Research Fellow,
Monash University

Learn more

Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

Learn more

Zoe Horn

Zoe Horn

Student,
Western Sydney University

Learn more

Lauren Kelly

Lauren Kelly

Student,
RMIT University

Learn more

Andrew Brooks

Dr Andrew Brooks

Affiliate,
UNSW

Learn more

Danielle Hynes

Danielle Hynes

Affiliate,
UNSW

Learn more

Christopher O'Neill

Dr Chris O’Neill

Affiliate,
Deakin University

Learn more

PARTNERS

OVIC Logo

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

Learn more

Designing Automated Tools to Support Welfare Rights Advocacy

PROJECT SUMMARY

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Designing Automated Tools to Support Welfare Rights Advocacy

Focus Areas: Social Services
Research Program: Machines
Status: Active

Welfare rights lawyers across Australia advocate for claimants of income support payments (e.g., unemployment benefits, disability support pension, family tax benefit etc.) paid by Services Australia — Centrelink. Claimants rely on welfare payments as a substantive part of their income, and often depend on welfare rights organisations to assist them in disputing decisions by Centrelink. These disputes can range from alleged debt due to overpayment, cessation of payment, or denial of payment altogether.

When engaging a client to support a dispute claim, welfare rights lawyers often submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Centrelink, to access client files. Centrelink provides this information in the form of a large PDF document (colloquially referred to as THE BRICK), which contains hundreds of pages of client data, including case notes and screenshots from Centrelink computers, documents using a lot of system and internal acronyms. Lawyers must then trawl through and make sense of this detailed document, reconstructing the history of a client’s case, while attempting to decipher the decisions made by Centrelink and their rationale. This is a heavy time consuming and onerous process, reducing the actual time a lawyer spends in engaging with their client, and making the legal arguments for the case.

Working closely with welfare rights lawyers (and their teams), advocacy groups, and users of social services — this project aims to collaboratively design, prototype, and pilot an automated data extraction tool to support welfare rights lawyers in making sense of Services Australia (Centrelink) system-generated FOI documents.

This project explores the following research questions:

  1. How can we digitally scaffold and support sense-making of Freedom of Information (FOI) system-generated responses through a data extraction tool outside the government system?
  2. What methods/approaches can facilitate collaborative design of Automated Decision-Making (ADM) support systems in social services with key stakeholders?
  3. How might we reclaim and democratize sense-making/deciphering of government ADM outputs from outside of government systems — designing for controlled activism?
  4. What impact can using an ADM support system, such as the data extraction tool, have on an organisational work flow and capacity of welfare rights lawyers to support their clients?

Key objectives are to:

  • Design, prototype and build an automated data extraction tool to support welfare rights lawyers in sense-making of system-generated FOI documents
  • Involve welfare rights lawyers, advocacy groups, and social service users and professionals in co-design of ADM tools to support such sense-making
  • Evaluate the Implications of the tool on organisational practice and processes

RESEARCHERS

Paul Henman headshot

Prof Paul Henman

Lead Investigator,
University of Queensland

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Terry Carney profil picture

Prof Terry Carney

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Robert Mullins profile picture

Dr Robert Mullins

Associate Investigator,
University of Queensland

Learn more

Awais Hameed Khan profile image

Dr Awais Hameed Khan

Research Fellow,
University of Queensland

Learn more

ADM+S professional staff Abdul Obeid

Dr Abdul Obeid

Data Engineer,
QUT

Learn more

Dan Trang

Dan Trang

Software Developer,
QUT

Learn more

PARTNERS

Economic Justice Australia

Economic Justice of Australia

Visit website

Services Australia

Services Australia

Visit website

Welfare Rights Centre

Welfare Rights Centre

Visit website

Trauma-informed AI: Developing and testing a practical AI audit framework for use in social services

PROJECT SUMMARY

Woman's face with artificial intelligence graphic on right side

Trauma-informed AI: Developing and testing a practical AI audit framework for use in social services

Focus Areas: Social Services
Research Program: Machines
Status: Completed

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in the delivery of social services. While it offers opportunities for more efficient, effective and personalised service delivery, AI can also generate greater problems, reinforcing disadvantage, generating trauma or re-traumatising service users.

Conducted by a multi-disciplinary research team with extensive expertise in the intersection of social services and digital technology, this project seeks to co-design an innovative AI trauma-informed audit framework to assess the extent to which an AI’s decisions may generate new trauma or re-traumatise.

The value of a trauma-informed AI audit framework is not simply to assess digital technologies after they are built and in operation, but also to inform designs of digital technologies and digitally enabled social services from their inception.

It will be road-tested using multiple case studies of AI use in child/family services, domestic and family violence services, and social security/welfare payments.

PUBLIC RESOURCES

Building a Trauma-Informed Algorithmic Assessment Toolkit

Target audience: Social service organisations

This Toolkit has been designed to assist organisations in their use of automation in service delivery at any stage of their automation journey: ideation; design; development; piloting; deployment or evaluation. While of particular use for social service organisations working with people who may have experienced past trauma, the tool will be beneficial for any organisation wanting to ensure safe, responsible and ethical use of automation and AI.

View toolkit

RESEARCHERS

Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Lead Investigator,
University of Queensland

Learn more

ADM+S Investigator Philip Gillingham

Dr Philip Gillingham

Associate Investigator,
University of Queensland

Learn more

Lyndal Sleep profile picture

Dr Lyndal Sleep

Affiliate,
Central Queensland University

Learn more

Suzanna Fay

Dr Suzanna Fay

Senior Lecturer,
University of Queensland

Learn more

PARTNERS

University of Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab

University of Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab

Visit website

Mapping automated decision-making tools in administrative decision-making in NSW

PROJECT SUMMARY

In motion people walking by office building

Mapping automated decision-making tools in administrative decision-making in NSW

Focus Areas: Social Services
Research Program: Institutions
Status: Completed

The project is a partnership between ADM+S and the New South Wales Ombudsman to map and analyse the use of automated systems in state and local government sectors in New South Wales (NSW). The project follows from a ground-breaking report on the use of technology in government decision-making published by the NSW Ombudsman in 2022.

The project will first map where and how NSW state and local government agencies are using automated systems in administrative decision processes. This is the first attempt to undertake such a systematic mapping in any jurisdiction in Australia and one of the very few attempts across the world. This first stage, led by Prof Paul Henman, Chief Investigator at ADM+S, and Dr Lyndal Sleep, Research Fellow at ADM+S, will distribute questionnaires and conduct targeted interviews with NSW state and local government agencies; building on the work from the ‘Mapping ADM in Australian Social Services’ project which mapped the use of automated systems in social security settings in Australia.

The second part of the research will be led by ADM+S Chief Investigator Prof Kimberlee Weatherall, and ADM+S Research Fellow Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino, which will analyse the different systems planned and in use by NSW public authorities, and the key risks and issues that emerge.

Researchers from ADM+S and Macquarie University will contribute to different legal and technical elements of the project.

The NSW Ombudsman will table a report to NSW Parliament with the findings of the research by the end of 2023.

 

This project culminated in the release of ‘Automated decision-making in New South Wales: mapping and analysis of the use of ADM systems by State and Local governments’, a report published in partnership with ADM+S and the New South Wales Ombudsman.

The report findings were presented as evidence during the first hearing of the NSW Artificial Intelligence Inquiry at Parliament House in Canberra on 8 March 2024.

Listen to Chief Researcher Prof Paul Henman on the ADM+S Podcast.

RESEARCHERS

Kimberlee Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Chief Researcher, University of Sydney

Learn more

Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Researcher, UQ

Learn more

José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Principal Researcher, University of Sydney

Learn more

ADM+S Member

C. Allan

Principal Project Officer, NSW Ombudsman’s Office

ADM+S Member

K. Whitworth

Senior Project Officer, NSW Ombudsman’s Office

Lyndal Sleep profile picture

Dr Lyndal Sleep

Associate Researcher,
Central Queensland University

Learn more

Jenny van der Arend

Dr Jenny van der Arend

Senior Research Assistant, UQ

Learn more

Jeffrey Chan

Assoc Prof Jeffrey Chan

Associate Researcher

Learn more

Terry Carney

Prof Terry Carney

Senior Researcher, University of Sydney

Learn more

Scarlet Wilcock

Dr Scarlet Wilcock

Associate Researcher, University of Sydney

Learn more

Rita Matulionyte

Dr Rita Matulionyte

Associate Researcher, Macquarie University

Learn more

Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Dist. Prof Julian Thomas

Advisory Board Member, RMIT University

Learn more

PARTNERS

NSW Ombudsman

Visit website

Risk, Rule-setters and Rule-takers: Regulatory approaches to risk in AI-supported and AI-automated decision-making for general welfare

PROJECT SUMMARY

Crowd in motion in busy precinct

Risk, Rule-setters and Rule-takers: Regulatory approaches to risk in AI-supported and AI-automated decision-making for general welfare

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Programs: Institutions
Status: Completed

This project seeks to scope several approaches to deal with Automated Decision-Making and Decision-Support Systems-Related Risks (ADM/DSS RR) through norms and provide an evaluation of those approaches for their consideration in regulatory contexts.

The standpoint is to look at risk control of those systems beyond ethics or social principles and focus the discussion on the possible interventions from the regulator’s perspective.

The overarching questions and sub-questions guiding this project are:

  • What is risk in an ADM / DS System?
    – Is it possible to define it?
    – How is it different from technological risk?
    – How is it different from the concept of risk in
    management?
    – Are all “potential harms” risks of and ADM/DSS?
    – Is there a concept of risk usable for regulatory
    purposes?
  • What types of risks are common and which ones specific to ADM/DSS?
    – Due to the nature of the risk?
    – Due to the scale of the risk?
  • What is an acceptable risk:
    – From the point of view of society as a whole
    – From the point of view of the most vulnerable groups
    – From the point of view of the owner of the AI system
    – From the point of view of the users of the system
  • Can risk be separated from questions of liability/ responsibility or do they need to be regulated together?

PUBLICATIONS

Acceptable risks in Europe’s Proposed AI Act: Reasonableness and other principles for deciding how much risk management is enough, 2023

Bello y Villarino, J.M., Fraser, H.

Journal article

The Tale of Two Automated States: Why one-size-fits-all approach to administrative law reform to accommodate AI will fail, 2023

Bello y Villarino, J.M.

Book chapter

International Human Rights, Artificial Intelligence, and the Challenge for the Pondering State: Time to Regulate? 2022

Bello y Villarino, J.M., et al.

Journal article

Legal Issues Around Autonomous Systems – Civil Liability, Fault and System Safety, 2022

Fraser, H.

Conference paper

AI Opacity and Explainability in Tort Litigation, 2022

Snoswell, A., Fraser, H., Simcock, R.

Conference paper

Where residual risks reside: A comparative approach to art 9(4) of the EU’s Proposed AI Regulation, 2021

Bello y Villarino, J.M, Fraser, H.

Working paper

RESEARCHERS

Kimberlee Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

Learn more

ADM+S Chief Investigator Nic Suzor

Prof Nicolas Suzor

Chief Investigator,
QUT

Learn more

José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

Learn more

PARTNERS

Gradient Institute logo

Gradient Institute

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Collateral Data: Automated Decision-Making and the Future of Credit in India

PROJECT SUMMARY

Young Indian woman looking at letter while using laptop

Collateral Data: Automated Decision-Making and the Future of Credit in India

Focus Areas: Social Services
Research Programs: People
Status: Active

This project aims to investigate the increasing use of automated decision-making systems in the provision of automated loans in India. These systems can use a potential borrower’s personal data (including call histories, location, contact lists) to create credit scores for people without formal credit histories. Hailed as a revolutionary step forward in financial inclusion on the one hand and decried as a dangerous invasion of privacy on the other, these new loan products have significant impacts.

Focusing on designers, regulators, and users of automated loans in India, the project asks how these products shape financial inclusion and socio-economic mobility at an everyday level. Through conducting interviews and collecting financial diaries the project aims to elucidate how these technologies are taken up and transform borrowers’ livelihoods and social networks.

Expected outcomes include detailed accounts of how automated financial services can exacerbate inequality even as they expand financial inclusion. Understanding these dynamics will be crucial not only for intervening in social inequality in India but also in regulating the adoption of similar practices of credit-scoring and loan distribution that are already starting to emerge in Australia. In providing a detailed picture of how ADM is changing the landscape of credit and economic inequality in a context where these tools have been widely adopted, the project seeks to provide critical foresight to regulators and industry actors in countries like Australia where data sharing, and alternative data are just beginning to be taken up in the financial sector.

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Heather Horst

Prof Heather Horst

Lead Investigator,
Western Sydney University

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Adam Sargent

Dr Adam Sargent

Affiliate,
Australian National University (ANU)

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Assessing Prospective Harms (vs Benefits) associated with ADM

PROJECT SUMMARY

Two people looking at computer screens

Assessing Prospective Harms (vs Benefits) associated with ADM

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Programs: Data, Machines, Institutions
Status: 
Completed

The project (which is now completed) was set up as a preliminary exercise in assessing prospective harms vs prospective benefits associated with ADM as a first step to amelioration. It took a two-pronged approach: firstly, focusing on individual and social harms/costs that may be associated with automated or semi-automated data processing (including collection, retention, dissemination, and other uses of data) – versus prospective benefits; and secondly, assessing the levels of risk of these harms ranging from nebulous to very significant (and acknowledging there may be
uncertain outcomes and uneven distributions). The overall aim was thus to have a fuller appreciation of harms and risks as a precursor to thinking practically about amelioration/mitigation of costs.

More specifically, the project was geared to questions of elaborating and understanding the range of prospective harms associated with loss of control over data processing for individuals, groups and society, and indeed the entirety of the living world, as a first step to finding solutions such as changes in law, or social practices, or business methods, or technologies (or some combination of these).

The principal activity of the project was to have a series of workshops planned, organised and hosted by the coordinators CI Richardson, AI Roberts and Postdoc Jiménez (with administrator Astari.Kusumawardani providing support). The workshops featured the work of diverse ADM+S CIs, AIs, Researchers and Affiliates and adopted an intense mode of interrogation and discussion along with suggestions. The aim was to assist ADMS personnel with the preparation of reports, books and scholarly articles (as well as share insights and ideas).

Topics and presenters in the workshop series included the following:
•March: Aitor Jiménez (Megan Richardson chair), Crimes of digital capitalism
•March: Ariadna Matamoros- Fernández, Rosalie Gillett, Anjalee de Silva (Aitor Jiménez chair), •Gendered harm
•April: José-Miguel Bello Villarino, Henry Fraser (Megan Richardson chair), Where residual risks reside: a comparative approach to AI risk management under the EU’s AI Act Proposal
•April: Jake Goldenfein (Megan Richardsonchair) How competing constructions of humans legitimize online advertising
•May: Simon Coghlan, Christine Parker (Andy Roberts, chair), A preliminary framework for understanding how ADM/AI technologies can harm non-human animals
•June: Lisa Archbold (Andy Roberts chair), Children’s developmental privacy
•July: Frank Pasquale/Jeannie Paterson (Megan Richardson chair: co-hosted with CAIDE), Automated grace: toward more humane benefits administration via AI
•August: James Meese (Megan Richardson chair), Regulating news recommendation: looking beyond harm
•September: Megan Richardson (Jeannie Paterson chair – co-hosted with CAIDE), Trust norms and data rights
•October: Ariadna Matamoros- Fernández, Louisa Bartolo, Luke Troynar (Aitor Jiménez chair), Addressing harmful humour as an online safety issue
•November: Damian Clifford (Megan Richardson chair), Data protection and (in)accuracy

PUBLICATIONS

Harm to Nonhuman Animals from AI: a Systematic Account and Framework, 2023

Parker, C., Coghlan, S.

Journal article

Humour as an online safety issue: Exploring solutions to help platforms better address this form of expression, 2023

Matamoros-Fernández, A., Bartolo, L., Troynar, L.

Journal article

The Crimes of Digital Capitalism, 2022

Jiménez, A., Oleson, J.C.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

Learn more

Zofia Bednarz

Dr Zofia Bednarz

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Simon Coghlan

Dr Simon Coghlan

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Andrew Kenyon

Prof Andrew Kenyon

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

Learn more

Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez profile picture

Dr Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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James Meese

Dr James Meese

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Andrew Roberts

Prof Andrew Roberts

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator,
Red Cross Australia

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José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Anjalee de Silva

Dr Anjalee de Silva

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Dr Rosalie Gillett profile picture

Dr Rosalie Gillett

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Damian Clifford

Dr Damian Clifford

Affiliate,
ANU

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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Aitor Jiménez

Dr Aitor Jiménez

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Kobi Leins

Dr Kobi Leins

Affiliate,
King’s College

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Jeannie Paterson

Prof Jeannie Paterson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

OVIC Logo

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC)

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Data for Social Good: Non-profit sector data projects

PROJECT SUMMARY

Diverse group of people using digital devices

Data for Social Good: Non-profit sector data projects

Focus Area: Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status: Completed

It is widely understood that the non-profit sector is at the frontline in addressing issues of social equity and inclusion. While the sector and the communities it serves stands to benefit greatly from the turn to data and analytics, it is often under-equipped.

This project draws on a range of social good data projects with non-profit organisations, including the Building Data Capability and Collaboration project, and provides a foundational methodology for the ADM+S Centre’s goals in reconfiguring data practices for responsible, ethical and inclusive ADM. It centres on a methodology of ‘collaborative data action’ that helps to build capability and improve data governance to produce data insights and innovation.

The open access Data for Social Good: Non-Profit Sector Data Projects book and associated workshops provide non-profit CEOs, managers, practitioners and board members with feasible strategies for getting into data analytics or assessing and building their organisation’s data capability. It also informs researchers as it reflects on where practice-embedded research has arrived and provides thoughts about future research directions.

PUBLIC RESOURCES

A Data Capability Framework for the not-for-profit sector

Target audience: Not-for-profit sector

As the NFP sector undergoes digital transformation it has great opportunity to generate social value from data through its use in analysis, decision making and social innovation. Sector-wide data capability measurement and fostering data communities of practice are essential if the sector is to maximise data for social good and minimise potential harms in the fast-approaching context of a data-driven and automated society.

View Framework

Towards Resilient Communities: Data capability and resource mapping for disaster preparedness

Target audience: Disaster management organisations, Communities

Access to quality data is vital for informing decision-making before, during and after emergency events. As more data becomes available, new artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as machine learning and generative AI are extending the possibilities for data-driven disaster resilience. To work toward this outcome, the ADM+S team worked in collaboration with experienced members of Australian Red Cross to better understand the challenges and potential of data-driven decision-making for community disaster resilience.

View Framework

PUBLICATIONS

Data for Social Good - Front Cover

Data for social good: non-profit sector data projects

27 October 2022

Read on APO

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Lead Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Jane Farmer

Prof Jane Farmer

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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PARTNERS & COLLABORATING ORGANISATIONS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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Bendigo Bank

Bendigo Bank

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Victorian Government

Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victorian Government

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Entertainment Assist

Entertainment Assist

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Good Cycles

Good Cycles

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Infoxchange

Infoxchange

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ReachOut

ReachOut

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Yooralla

Yooralla

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Public Interest Litigation for AI Accountability

PROJECT SUMMARY

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Public Interest Litigation for AI Accountability

Focus Areas: News and Media, Health, Social Services, Transport and Mobilities
Research Program: Institutions
Status: Active

If you have been harmed by bad automated decision-making, from robots to loan assessments, what can you do to right the wrong? What can the law do to help you? A growing number of public controversies about discriminatory, unpredictable and dangerous automated decision-making has raised questions about the most effective methods of accountability.

Through qualitative interviews with stakeholders (including class action and pro bono lawyers), this project seeks to identify the opportunities, enablers and barriers for public interest litigation to promote accountability and fairness in automated decision-making.

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Nic Suzor

Prof Nicolas Suzor

Lead Investigator,
QUT

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Zahra Stardust profile picture

Dr Zahra Stardust

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Ecological Implications of Data Centres

PROJECT SUMMARY

Data centre

Ecological Implications of Data Centres

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, Social Services
Research Program: Institutions
Status: Active

The project seeks to understand how companies, public agencies and civil society address the environmental conditions and limitations facing the establishment and management of data centres and submarine cables in urban and coastal areas.

A central part of data centre management is heat management: servers produce heat, and as they are gathered in large numbers in close areas, temperatures rise raising the risk of fire. To overcome this, data centre operators have various techniques to cool down these facilities and avoid any risks of data loss caused by fires. Moreover, when landing, telecom subsea cables risk to damage the local biodiversity (especially marine plants).

Thus, this project will ask: what shapes the environmental impacts of data centres cooling infrastructures? What are the ecological implications involved with the landing of a telecom submarine cable or the creation of a new data centre? How are these ecological impacts made visible to stakeholders? To what extent do environmental assessments succeed in reconciling the various interests at stake (security of infrastructures, maritime trade, marine biodiversity) in the passage of a telecomunication cable? How do ecological and infrastructural vulnerabilities of both data centers and telecom submarine cables shape the world-wide interconnection of data at the heart of the digital economy?

In order to address this question, we will take as a case study the rapid growth of data centres and telecommunication subsea cables in Marseille (France), which is particularly interesting as this city is in a warm climate, making the issue of heat management more difficult there than in the north of Europe.

This project is conducted by ADM+S Research Fellow Dr Loup Cellard in collaboration with Dr Clément Marquet (Mines Paris).

PUBLICATIONS

Just Transitions in Australia: Moving Towards Low Carbon Lives Across Policy, Industry and Practice, 2022

Parker, C., Haines, F., et al.

Submission

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Karen Yeung

Prof Karen Yeung

Partner Investigator,
University of Birmingham

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Loup Cellard

Dr Loup Cellard

Affiliate,
Datactivist Coop

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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

Université de Technologie de Compiègne Logo

Université de Technologie de Compiègne

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University of Birmingham

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Transparent Machines: From Unpacking Bias to Actionable Explainability

PROJECT SUMMARY

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Transparent Machines: From Unpacking Bias to Actionable Explainability

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Status: Active

ADMs, their software, algorithms, and models, are often designed as “black boxes” with little efforts placed on understanding how they work. This lack of understanding does not only impact the final users of ADMs, but also the stakeholders and the developers, who need to be accountable for the systems they are creating. This problem is often exacerbated by the inherent bias coming from the data from which the models are often trained on.

Further, the wide-spread usage of deep learning models has led to increasing number of minimally-interpretable models being used, as opposed to traditional models like decision trees, or even Bayesian and statistical machine learning models.

Explanations of models are also needed to reveal potential biases in the models themselves and assist with their debiasing.

This project aims to unpack the biases in models that may come from the underlying data, or biases in software (e.g. a simulation) that could be designed with a specific purpose and angle from the developers’ point-of-view. This project also aims to investigate techniques to generate diverse, robust and actionable explanations for a range of problems and data types and modality, from large-scale unstructured data, to highly varied sensor data and multimodal data. To this end, we look to generate counterfactual explanations that have a shared dependence on the data distribution and the local behaviour of the black-box model by level, and offer new metrics in order to measure the opportunity cost of choosing one counterfactual over another. We further aim to explore the intelligibility of different representations of explanations to diverse audiences through an online user study.

PUBLICATIONS

i-Align: An Interpretable Knowledge Graph Alignment Model, 2023

Salim, F., Scholer, F., et al.

Journal article

TransCP: A Transformer Pointer Network for Generic Entity Description Generation with Explicit Content-Planning, 2023

Salim, F., et al.

Journal article

Contrastive Learning-Based Imputation-Prediction Networks for In-hospital Mortality Risk Modeling Using EHRs, 2023

Salim, F., et al.

Conference paper

How Robust is your Fair Model? Exploring the Robustness of Diverse Fairness Strategies, 2023

Small, E., Chan, J., et al.

Journal article

Equalised Odds is not Equal Individual Odds: Post-processing for Group and Individual Fairness, 2023

Small, E., Sokol, K., et al.

Conference paper

Helpful, Misleading or Confusing: How Humans Perceive Fundamental Building Blocks of Artificial Intelligence Explanations, 2023

Small, E., Xuan, Y., et al.

Workshop paper

Navigating Explanatory Multiverse Through Counterfactual Path Geometry, 2023

Small, E., Xuan, Y., Sokol, K.

Workshop paper

Mind the gap! Bridging explainable artificial intelligence and human understanding with Luhmann’s Functional Theory of Communication, 2023

Sokol, K., et al.

Workshop paper

Measuring disentangled generative spatio-temporal representation, 2022

Chan, J., Salim, F., et al.

Conference paper

FAT Forensics: A Python toolbox for algorithmic fairness, accountability and transparency, 2022

Sokol, K., et al.

Journal article

Analysing Donors’ Behaviour in Non-profit Organisations for Disaster Resilience: The 2019–2020 Australian Bushfires Case Study, 2022

Chan, J., Sokol, K., et al.

Conference paper

BayCon: Model-agnostic Bayesian Counterfactual Generator, 2022

Sokol, K., et al.

Conference paper

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Lead Investigator,
UNSW

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
University of Queensland

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Mark Sanderson

Prof Mark Sanderson

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Jeffrey Chan

Dr Jeffrey Chan

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Falk Scholer

Prof Falk Scholer

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Maarten de Rijke

Prof Maarten de Rijke

Partner Investigator,
University of Amsterdam

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Peibo Li

Peibo Li

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Edward Small

Edward Small

PhD Student,
RMIT University

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Kacper Sokol

Kacper Sokol

Affiliate,
ETH Zurich

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PARTNERS

University of Amsterdam logo

University of Amsterdam

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Governing ADM Use

PROJECT SUMMARY

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Governing ADM Use

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Institutions
Status: Completed

The Governing ADM Use Project was an ‘umbrella’ project designed to seed the work of the ADM+S Institutions program in the rapidly evolving area of ADM and AI regulation. The project conceives the challenge of governing ADM use as a multi layered network incorporating the regulation of the use of ADM by government authorities, the regulation by government of ADM use in the commercial and private sector, and the interaction of ADM-specific regulation and governance with a range of other areas of law, regulation and governance that impinge and interact (more or less directly) with the specific governance of ADM/AI.

This latter category extends from data and privacy regulation to competition and consumer protection and beyond to sector and problem specific areas of regulation such as energy regulation, worker health and safety, labour force regulation and importantly environmental and planning laws. This program of work has sought to understand the special role of law as well as broader influences on public and private sector ADM use, and how these change – or need to change – to respond to the impacts of automation. A particular feature of this program of work has been to expand our understanding of the eco-system of law and governance properly concerned with regulating ADM/AI to include how we govern the ecological impact of ADM/AI use.

PUBLICATIONS

Harm to Nonhuman Animals from AI: a Systematic Account and Framework, 2023

Coghlan, S., Parker, C.

Journal article

Data problems and legal solutions – some thoughts beyond privacy, 2023

Weatherall, K., et al.

Book chapter

Reconstituting the Contemporary Corporation Through Ecologically Responsive Regulation, 2022

Parker, C., Haines, F.

Journal article

From ‘Corporate Governance’ to Ecological Regulation: Flipping the Regulatory Story on Climate Change, 2022

Parker, C.

Journal article

Algorithms as Figures. Towards a post-digital ethnography of algorithmic contexts, 2022

Cellard, L.

Journal article

The crimes of digital capitalism, 2022

Jiménez, A.

Journal article

Just Transitions in Australia: Moving Towards Low Carbon Lives Across Policy, Industry and Practice, 2022

Parker, C., Haines, F., et al.

Submission

More on Convening Technology: Blockchain, Fashion, and the Right to Know, 2022

Richardson, M., et al.

Journal article

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Digital Platform Services Inquiry Discussion Paper for Interim Report No 5: Updating competition and consumer law for digital platform services, 2022

Weatherall, K., et al.

Submission

Online Privacy Bill Consultation Submission, 2022

Goldenfein, J., Weatherall, K., Parker, C.

Submission

Submission in response to the Privacy Act Review, 2022

Weatherall, K., Trezise, M.

Submission

Submission to the Statutory Reviewer on the Consumer Data Right, 2022

Weatherall, K., Bednarz, Z., Dolman, C.

Submission

Submission on the Commonwealth Government Trusted Digital Identity Framework Position Paper, 2021

Weatherall, K.

Submission

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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ADM+S Investigator Karen Yeung

Prof Karen Yeung

Partner Investigator,
University of Birmingham

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José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Loup Cellard

Dr Loup Cellard

Affiliate,
Datactivist Coop

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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Aitor Jiménez

Dr Aitor Jiménez

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Democratic Practices of Governance Given ADM

PROJECT SUMMARY

Busy street crossing aerial view

Democratic Practices of Governance Given ADM

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Institutions
Status: Completed

This project examines possibilities for democratic practice, institutions and governance given automated decision-making (ADM). It focuses on challenges to and opportunities for liberal and democratic institutions and governance presented by ADM. The project aims to bridge analysis of ADM’s deployment across different domains with scholarly literature on republican and positive freedom, the rule of law and liberal democratic rights.

Overall, the project seeks to develop a theoretically rich analysis of democracy and freedom given ADM and apply the analysis to specific examples of current regulatory and democratic challenge.

PUBLICATIONS

Just Transitions in Australia: Moving Towards Low Carbon Lives Across Policy, Industry and Practice, 2022

Parker, C., Haines, F.

Submission

Privacy in the Republic, 2022

Kenyon, A.

Book

Countering hate speech in context: positive freedom of speech, 2022

de Silva, A., Kenyon, A.

Journal article

Law as Counterspeech, 2022

de Silva, A., et al.

Journal article

A Platformed Response to Hate Speech Against Women, 2022

de Silva, A.

Journal article

Introduction: Conceptualisations of Violence, 2022

de Silva, A., et al.

Book Chapter

The Crimes of Digital Capitalism, 2022

Jiménez, A.

Journal article

Law, Code and Exploitation: How Corporations Regulate the Working Conditions of the Digital Proletariat, 2022

Jiménez, A.

Journal article

The Australian News Media Bargaining Code, 2021

Goldenfein, J.

Analysis brief

Democracy of ExpressionPositive Free Speech and Law, 2021

Kenyon, A.

Book

Hate Speech Against Women: Addressing a Democratic Crisis, 2021

de Silva, A.

Policy brief

Positive Free Speech: A Democratic Freedom, 2021

Kenyon, A.

Book chapter

Surveillance Punitivism: Colonialism, Racism, and State Terrorism in Spain, 2021

Jiménez, A.

Journal article

Privacy, Punishment and Private Law, 2021

Roberts, A., Richardson, M.

Book chapter

Digital capitalism, what are the possible alternatives? 2021

Jiménez, A., et al.

Journal article

Adtech and children’s data rights, 2021

Archbold, L., Clifford, D., et al.

Journal article

Children’s Privacy in Lockdown: Intersections between Privacy, Participation and Protection Rights in a Pandemic, 2021

Archbold, L., Clifford, D., et al.

Journal article

Esports and the Platforming of Children’s During COVID-19, 2021

Fordyce, R., Archbold, L., et al.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
Melbourne University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Sarah Erfani

Dr Sarah Erfani

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Andrew Roberts

Prof Andrew Roberts

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator,
Red Cross Australia

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Anjalee de Silva

Dr Anjalee de Silva

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Chathurika Akurugoda

Chathurika Akurugoda

PhD Student,
University of Melbourne

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Lisa Archbold

Lisa Archbald

PhD Student,
University of Melbourne

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Phoebe Galbally

Phoebe Galbally

PhD Student,
University of Melbourne

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Avantik Tamta

Avantik Tamta

PhD Student,
University of Melbourne

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Aitor Jiménez

Dr Aitor Jiménez

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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The Coronavirus Impact

PROJECT SUMMARY

COVID19 Stay safe on mobile device

The Coronavirus Impact

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status:
Completed

This project focused on a publication output: a themed issue of the journal New Media & Society. Our theme proposal was accepted and the theme issue is in its final stages pre-publication. We are still waiting for comments on one article, but 10 articles have been accepted for publication by the journal and the introduction has been written. We are only waiting for the decision on the last outstanding article before submitting the complete package to the editors for final review. The entire issue ended up being written by Centre members.

The focus of the issue is on the range of roles played by automated decision making systems in the pandemic response. These range from the automated curation of news content to automated contact tracing and air quality management. Contributions came from all four focus areas of the Centre. The timeframe for the issue enabled the inclusion of articles that tracked the shift from pandemic to endemic and an analysis of the ways in which systems developed in response to the pandemic persisted or faded away.

RESEARCHERS

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Heather Horst

Prof Heather Horst

Chief Investigator,
Western Sydney University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Gerard Goggin

Prof Gerard Goggin

Associate Investigator,
Western Sydney University

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Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez profile picture

Prof Ariadna Matamoros-Fernandez

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Georgia Van Toorn

Dr Georgia van Toorn

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Christopher O'Neill

Dr Christopher O’Neil

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño profile picture

Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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OVIC Logo

Victorian Information Commissioner

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Data & Society Research Institute (US)

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Data mapping and ADM to advance humanitarian action and preparedness

PROJECT SUMMARY

Volunteer charity workers

Data mapping and ADM to advance humanitarian action and preparedness

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status: Completed

Humanitarian organisations and other NGOs are undergoing significant digital transformation. In a complicated digital media environment, new analytics capabilities can improve the role and effectiveness of organisations like Australian Red Cross in building community resilience, expanding volunteer networks, and informing rapid response. New models are needed for building data capability within communities prone to disaster and emergency. This includes community-driven practices for gathering useful open access data and local knowledge to aid and automate decision-making in disaster preparedness.

This project aimed to explore the potential of data partnerships and local community data capability for improving humanitarian preparedness and response to emergency situations. It contributes to developing new techniques for improving data-driven mapping of community strengths, knowledge and resilience. The work will improve advocacy and preparedness and enhance Red Cross’s data analytics capability as the organisation seeks to work with and empower local communities.

The project’s interim report, Mapping Community Resources for Disaster Preparedness: Humanitarian Data Capability and Automated Futures, sets out background knowledge about open data and mapping practices for disaster response, prediction and preparedness. Building on stakeholder workshops and international collaboration, the Mapping Community Resources report presents a model for community-oriented, open access and strengths-based data mapping capability.

PUBLIC RESOURCES

Volunteers packing boxes into a van

Open Source Software: Community Resource Mapping Platform

Target audience: Researchers, Software Developers
Content type: Dataset

View on Github

PUBLICATIONS

Towards resilient communities: data capability and resource mapping for disaster preparedness, 2023

McCosker, A., Shaw, F., Kang, Y.B.

Report

Mapping Community Resources for Disaster Preparedness: Humanitarian Data Capability and Automated Futures, 2022

McCosker, A., Shaw, F., Calyx, C., Kang, Y.B.

Report

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Lead Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Jane Farmer

Prof Jane Farmer

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator,
Red Cross Australia

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PARTNERS

Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red
Cross

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Everyday Data Cultures

PROJECT SUMMARY

Businessman using cell phone on subway train

Everyday Data Cultures

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status: Completed

This project explored the role of everyday data practices and literacies in automated decision-making. Its primary contribution is the novel conceptual framework of everyday data cultures, which is based on the cultural studies of everyday life. As well as a number of papers and public talks, it produced a co-authored monograph: Everyday Data Cultures (Polity Press, 2022).

Members of this team used this framework in subsequent research that sought to integrate everyday community experience into data projects with our partners in a variety of sectors across aspects of all four of the Centre’s focus areas. It will be used in future work within the Centre seeking to make sense of the impact and take-up of Generative AI in daily life – at home, at work, and in intimate relationships.

PUBLICATIONS

Everyday Data Cultures, 2022

Burgess, J., Wilken, R., McCosker, A., Albury, K.

Book

Everyday data cultures: beyond Big Critique and the technological sublime, 2022

Burgess, J.

Journal article

Everyday Data Cultures and USB Portable Flash Drives, 2022

Kennedy, J., Wilken, R.

Journal article

Making sense of deepfakes: Socializing AI and building data literacy on GitHub and YouTube, 2022

McCosker, A.

Journal article

Liminoid Media: On the Enduring Significance of USB Portable Flash Drives, 2021

Kennedy, J., Wilken, R.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Lead Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Assoc Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Mapping ADM Across Sectors

PROJECT SUMMARY

Blurred crowd of people

Mapping ADM Across Sectors

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Programs: Data, Machines, Institutions, and People
Status: Active

ADM systems have the potential to greatly improve the overall quality of life in society, but they may also exacerbate social, political, and economic inequality. The role they play in reinforcing, reproducing, and reconfiguring power relations is, as recent events demonstrate, a key concern with respect to the deployment of automated decision making systems. When such systems are used to decide how benefits, resources, services, or information are allocated in society, they bear directly on the character and quality of life in that society. We are interested in both the potential benefits of the deployment of the technology and the potential harms. We do not treat such systems in the abstract, but are centrally concerned with the social, political, and economic relations in which they are embedded and which shape their deployment. A key question for the ADM+S Centre, in other words, is not just how best to design and deploy the technology, but what economic and political arrangements are most compatible with their fair, ethical, responsible, and democratic use.

The Social Issues in Automated Decision-Making report brings together material collected from discussions with leaders in the Centre’s focus areas and feedback from an international collection of experts in their respective domains. For each focus area we followed a similar methodology for canvassing key social issues. We started by discussing key social issues with Focus Area leaders and their teams. We then canvassed the academic literature, reports by industry groups and relevant independent organisations, and media coverage. For each area, we sought to identify key applications of ADM and the possible social benefits and harms with which they are associated. We also sought to identify continuities in these social issues both within and across the Centre’s main focus areas.

This is neither a final nor a definitive report. It marks the first step in the Centre’s ongoing social issues mapping project. The document will develop over time to reflect the insights that emerge from ongoing collaborations.

Read the report.

PUBLICATIONS

Social issues in ADM

Social Issues in Automated Decision Making, 2022

O’Neill, C., Sadowski, J.,  Andrejevic, M. et al

Report

RESEARCHERS

Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Paul Henman

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
University of Queensland

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ADM+S Investigator Ramon Lobato

Assoc Prof Ramon Lobato

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Jathan Sadowski

Dr Jathan Sadowski

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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Georgia Van Toorn

Dr Georgia van Toorn

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Kelly Lewis

Dr Kelly Lewis

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Christopher O'Neill

Dr Christopher O’Neil

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Daniel Binns

Dr Daniel Binns

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Dr Lyndal Sleep

Affiliate,
Central Queensland University

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PARTNERS

OVIC Logo

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

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Australian Red Cross Logo

Australian Red Cross

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Diverse Experiences of ADM: Design, Curation and Use

PROJECT SUMMARY

Research Materials

Diverse Experiences of ADM: Design, Curation and Use

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: People
Status: Active

The ‘Diverse Experiences of ADM’ is the overarching thematic title for a collection of studies that examine the social, cultural and ethical dimensions of how people understand and experience ADM and other new and emerging technologies. This project explores how members of diverse communities shape existing, emerging and future practices of ADM in an effort to understand and develop equitable futures. Several studies address disabled people’s lived experiences of ADM and other emerging technologies and what services they would like to see introduced to better support their care and wellbeing. Others look at health technology startups and the thinking behind developers’ visions of future technologies and identify how health and medical technologies are portrayed in Australian industry websites and news reports. One strand addresses gender, sexual health and digital contraception technologies.

Digital mental health is also a focus of some of the studies conducted in this project. There is a strong emphasis on using participatory, experimental, creative and arts-based methods to conduct research and to engage in community research translation and engagement, including artworks, zines and exhibitions. There is also a more-than-human orientation across this project, identifying the entanglements of humans not only with digital devices, software and data but with other animals and living things and the physical elements of the ecosystems in which these technologies are imagined, developed, promoted, used or resisted.

PUBLICATIONS

The Internet of Animals: Human-Animal Relationships in the Digital Age, 2023

Lupton, D.

Book

Health information in creative translation: establishing a collaborative project of research and exhibition making, 2023

Watson, A., Wozniak-O’Connor, V., Lupton, D.

Journal article

More-than-Human Wellbeing, 2023

Lupton, D., Watson, A., et al.

Exhibition reader

Talking/Flowers, 2023

Watson, A.

Zine

Everyday Automation: Experiencing and Anticipating Emerging Technologies, 2022

Pink, S., Lupton, D., et al.

Book

Digitized and datafied embodiment: a more-than-human approach, 2022

Lupton, D., Clark, M., et al.

Book chapter

Everyday automation: setting a research agenda, 2022

Lupton, D., Pink, S., et al.

Book chapter

The quantified pandemic: digitised surveillance, containment and care in response to the COVID-19 crisis, 2022

Lupton, D.

Book chapter

Re-Imagining Care Through Arts-Based Methods, 2022

Watson, A., Rose, M.

Zine

The futures of qualitative research in the COVID-19 era: experimenting with creative and digital methods, 2022

Lupton, D., Watson, A., et al.

Book chapter

Remote fieldwork in homes during the COVID-19 pandemic: video-call ethnography and map drawing methods, 2022

Watson, A., Lupton, D.

Journal article

The presence and perceptibility of personal digital data: findings from a participant map drawing method, 2022

Lupton, D., Watson, A., et al.

Journal article

Research-creations for speculating about digitised automation: bringing creative writing prompts and vital materialism into the sociology of futures, 2022

Watson, A., Lupton, D.

Journal article

From human-centric digital health to digital One Health: crucial new directions for planetary health, 2022

Lupton, D.

Journal article

(Dis)assembling mental health through apps: the sociomaterialities of young adults’ experiences, 2022

Flore, J.

Journal article

The COVID digital home assemblage: transforming the home into a work space during the crisis, 2021

Watson, A., Lupton, D., et al.

Journal article

Pandemic fitness assemblages: the sociomaterialities and affective dimensions of exercising at home during the COVID-19 crisis, 2021

Clark, M., Lupton, D.

Journal article

The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on governing health futures 2030: growing up in a digital world, 2021

Lupton, D., et al.

Journal article

Living in, with and beyond the ‘smart home, 2021

Lupton, D., Pink, S., Horst, H.

Book chapter

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Heather Horst

Prof Heather Horst

Lead Investigator,
Western Sydney University

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Prof Deborah Lupton

Lead Investigator,
UNSW

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Prof Jackie Leach Scully

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Georgia Van Toorn

Dr Georgia van Toorn

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Cecily Klim

Cecily Klim

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Megan Rose NEW

Dr Megan Rose

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Jacinthe Flore

Dr Jacinthe Flore

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS AND COLLABORATING ORGANISATIONS

Consumer Health Forum of Australia Logo

Consumers Health Forum of Australia

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Health Consumers NSW

Health Consumers NSW

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