People Powered Algorithms:

People Powered Algorithms for Desirable Social Outcomes (PPA)

People Powered Algorithms for Desirable Social Outcomes, or PPA, was a research project set up to research how algorithms increasingly govern interactions between state and citizen. As the 'digital by default' model of government-citizen interaction spreads this will increase. This increase, combined with the value of data science and how AI and machine learning is embraced as a way to achieve efficiency and carry out public policy we need to consider how algorithms mediate real-world relationships between the state and individuals. Without confidence in the legitimacy and credibility of the algorithms the trust between government and citizens will dramatically degrade. Our research will therefore focus on algorithmic interactions between the citizen and the state and examine how we form productive and trusted relationships between those designing, deploying and using the algorithmic interactions and the communities affected by the decisions.

Funders:

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

People Powered Algorithms:

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Algorithms increasingly govern interactions between state and citizen, and as the 'digital by default' model of government-citizen interaction spreads, this will increase.

Combined with the value of data science and how AI and machine learning is being embraced to achieve efficiency and carry out public policy, this means we need to consider how algorithms mediate real-world relationships between the state and individuals.

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Digitalised Welfare:

Systems for both seeing and working with mess

Authors

Morris, A., Coles-Kemp, L. and Jones, W. (2020)

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'Digital by default' does not replace the mess of poverty with simplicity for those in poverty, but it does render it invisible to the state as it's relocated to unofficial spaces of welfare, such as food banks.

Acknowledging and designing for the mess of poverty in digital welfare systems is potentially an important means of reducing digital barriers, rebuilding a sense of self-efficacy and increasing service accessibility and inclusion.

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Digital welfare:

Designing for more nuanced forms of access

Authors

Coles-Kemp, L., Ashenden, D., Morris, A. and Yuille, J. (2020)

About

For digitalised welfare to offer a personalised, holistic service that is affordable, sustainable, efficient, encouraging and leaves room for voluntary action, the design of the system delivered by the welfare provider and the ecosystem shaping its experience need to be considered.

We use theoretical perspectives on access and security to ideate sketches that invoke new user experiences of welfare and reflect ways to articulate a different welfare ethos that can encompass both complementary and conflicting perspectives. 

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