BIAS 2018 - 2018 Bias in Information, Algorithms, and Systems

More than ever before, information, algorithms and systems have the potential to influence and shape our experiences and views. With increased access to digital media and the ubiquity of data and data-driven processes in all areas of life, an awareness and understanding of areas, such as algorithmic accountability, transparency, governance and bias, are becoming increasingly important. Recent cases in the news and media have highlighted the wider societal effects of data and algorithms requiring we pay it more attention.
The BIAS workshop will bring together researchers from different disciplines who are interested in analysing and tackling bias within their discipline, arising from the data, algorithms and methods they use. The theme of the workshop, bias in information, algorithms, and systems, includes, but is not limited to, the following areas:
Bias in sources of data and information (e.g., datasets, data production, publications, visualisations, annotations, knowledge bases)
Bias in categorisation and representation schemes (e.g., vocabularies, standards, etc.)
Bias in algorithms (e.g., information retrieval, recommendation, classification, etc.)
Bias in the broader context of information and social systems (e.g., social media, search engines, social networks, crowdsourcing, etc.)
Considerations in evaluation (e.g., to identify and avoid bias, to create unbiased test and training collections, crowdsourcing, etc.)
Interactions between individuals, technologies and data/information
Considerations for data governance and policy
The workshop aims to identify potential avenues for future directions around the notions of bias, algorithmic transparency and accountability, with the concrete goal of generating a collaborative proposal for publishing a position paper (e.g., in ACM SIGIR Forum) and/or the coordination of a special issue on BIAS for the journal Online Information Review. With these goals in mind, the workshop will feature a keynote talk, presentations and posters from workshop participants, and thematic discussions in small groups.