The Challenge
To develop a methodological approach which helps gain a deeper understanding of how search systems enable and constrain diverse groups facing “wicked problems”. This may be achieved through developing realistic personas and their attributes as a way to capture information seekers’ context and formulate realistic search queries for algorithmic audits, or other ways of auditing search systems and overcoming their “black box” nature. Regardless of the direction, the proposed methodological approach or approaches must account for contextual diversity of social groups and the “wicked problems” they tackle.

 
On Day 1, teams will will be asked to identify a “wicked problem” and produce 2-3 concise representations of people who may be searching for information related to it. They will consider the contextual properties relevant to understanding how these types of users will formulate their search queries and which platforms they will use to search for information. Multiple methods and data sources can be utilised for persona development, including inference from open fora (Reddit, StackExchange), consultation with external stakeholders invited to the event, interviews of fellow group members, and more. These methods will be used to formulate 15-60 queries reflective of the context of the social groups. For queries that are likely to be conducted via Google Search, the members of the Australian Search Experience Project (subproject 2) will utilise their existing infrastructure to simulate such queries and collect the first page of search results for each query.

On Day 2, teams can choose to:

• Develop an approach to evaluate the search results collected from Google for the queries they produced.
  or
• Develop a prototype or an approach to collect and evaluate search results from other platforms relevant to the personas they developed on day 1.

Throughout the event, teams will be supported by mentors and leaders from across the Centre with expertise in information retrieval, computational social science, and internet studies. Team members and team leads – no technical experience necessary. ADM+S members from any interdisciplinary background are welcome.

Outputs

The process and results of the Hackathon will be documented in a methodological paper, with all participants invited to join as co-authors.

For more information, visit the registration page. Any questions can be directed to Manager, Research Training and Development Sally Storey.