The Algorithm: A Narrative

the __ALGORITHM __
(a narrative)
sara simon (i work at the new york times)
@sarambsimon (that’s me on twitter)
fitc tech + creativity (twenty eighteen)
* **

to find + tell the stories that
without software we could not find + tell
interactive news
technologies

ART SCHOOL
• theater
• creative writing

LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE
• english

i had an idea
in my mind
of what it must
mean to write code

there’s no
algorithm for
getting into tech

there’s no
algorithm for
getting into techNEWS

and that’s why we’re
here today

it is _algorithms_ that DETERMINE

it is _algorithms_ that DESCRIBE

it is _algorithms_ that DEFINE

it is _algorithms_ that DEFINE
it is _algorithms_ that DECIDE

itis_algorithms_thatDETERMINE
itis_algorithms_thatDESCRIBE
itis_algorithms_thatDEFINE
itis_algorithms_thatDECIDE

“good things
come from
incomprehension”
- maira kalman

“i didn’t quite
understand that,
but i think maybe
i liked it?”
“huh!”

“SOMETIMES YOUR IDEAS ARE BAD”

(which was kind
of the point?)

this is a talk
about algorithms

“[a]n algorithm is any well-
defined computational
procedure that takes some
value, or set of values, as
input and produces some value,
or set of values, as output.”

this talk explores
our common
understanding of
the algorithm

1 computer science
background + history

3 what we think about
when we hear the word
_algorithm_

this is a talk about
our narrative of the
algorithm

1in definition 2
3in discussion
in practice

1in definition 2
3in discussion 4
in practice
in transformation

“it is not the algorithm,
narrowly defined,
that has sociocultural effects,
but algorithmic systems —
intricate, dynamic arrangements of
people and code.
outside of textbooks, ‘algorithms’ are
almost always ‘algorithmic systems.’”

“the next time you hear someone
talking about algorithms,
replace the term with ‘god’ &
ask yourself if the
meaning changes”

the guardian
“what they watch is shaped by
this algorithm”
GOD

politico
“automation bias, he calls it:
the idea that people assume that
what an algorithm spits out must
be logical, right and good.”
GOD

the new york times magazine
“like a child who learns to ride a
bicycle by trial and error and,
asked to articulate the rules that
enable bicycle riding, simply shrugs
her shoulders and sails away…”

the new york times magazine
“…the algorithm looks vacantly at us
when we ask, ‘why?’ it is, like death,
another black box.”
GOD

“a thing you can hold in
your palm and caress.
a beautiful thing.
a divine one.”

“they have turned
into a new type
of theology”

the dangerous
mystique of the
algorithm

“this is the finger
belonging to the
illustrious hand that
ran through the skies…”

1) tynker
coding for kids
not this ͢

4) a cute video
from khan academy
how to make a
grilled cheese sandwich

we think of a grilled
cheese sandwich as
something entirely
uncomplicated

if presence of breadbox is true:

open lid & remove bagged loaf

else:

else:
open refrigerator & remove bagged loaf

remove loaf from bag
find cerated knife

find cerated knife
(preferably one that’s clean)

find cerated knife
find cutting board

pull loaf from bag
slice in two-inch-thick pieces

pull loaf from bag
slice in two-inch-thick pieces
(according to the user’s predetermined
center slice vs end of loaf slice
preferences)

place loaf remnants back in bag

place loaf remnants back in bag
place bag back in established bread area

if area was established as refrigerator:

keep door open to find cheese

(preferably a block of extra
sharp cheddar)

(preferably a block of extra
sharp cheddar)
(though others kinds will do)

place block of cheese on cutting board

remove wrapper

remove wrapper
use knife to slice cheese about 2/3rds
of an inch thick

remove wrapper
use knife to slice cheese about 2/3rds
of an inch thick
(enough slices to cover the area of
one side of bread)

written precisely to be
processed by something
that has no concept of
food or food storage

“IT’S THE FAULT OF
THE RECIPE!”
- someone very quick to judge

THE MUSIC MAN
distinguished musical actor

THE MUSIC MAN
distinguished supporting or featured musical actor

THE MUSIC MAN
distinguished supporting or featured musical actress

THE MUSIC MAN
conductor and musical director

THE MUSIC MAN
conductor and musical director
outstanding musical

THE MUSIC MAN
professor harold hill
a traveling salesman

a salesman
travels
from town to
town

a salesman
travels
from town to
town
what’s the
most efficient
route for him
to take?

“a weighted graph is
one whose edges have
a cost or distance
associated with them”

“an undirected graph is
one whose edges have a
bidirectional flow”

this is why developing
an algorithm to solve
the traveling salesman
problem is so hard

everything can be
broken down into a
series of steps +
solutions

that’s just a fancy way to
say that my work is to use
logic + language to solve
puzzles

we’ve determined that
an algorithm is a
series of steps or
instructions

some of
these or MANY
A LACK OF:

when i talk about a
life truly affected
by an algorithm?

the l.a. times
december 2017
“the los angeles police department
asked drivers to avoid navigation apps,
which are steering users onto more
open routes — in this case, streets
in the neighborhoods that are on fire.”

politico
january/february 2018
“the things fiscalnote is doing—
sifting through murky bills and
votes and patterns of behavior—
is precisely why you hire an
experienced staffer.”

the marshall project
august 2015

wired
october 2017
“public agencies responsible for areas
such as criminal justice, health, and
welfare increasingly use scoring systems
and software to steer or make decisions
on life-changing events like granting bail,
sentencing, enforcement, and prioritizing
services.”

parents kim & kevin snipes
and their
daughter sophie

sophie was denied
eligibility and left
without care

“it would do this by automating
welfare eligibility processes:
substituting online applications for
face-to-face interactions, building
centralized call centers throughout
the state and ‘transitioning’ 1500
state employees to private telephone
call centers run by acs”

“between 2006 and 2008,
the state of indiana denied more
than a million applications for
food stamps, medicaid, and cash
benefits, a 54 percent increase
compared to the three years
prior to automation”

“hybrid eligibility system”

“automated eligibility was based
on the assumption that it is
better for ten eligible
applicants to be denied public
benefits than for one ineligible
person to receive them”

“coordinated-entry
system”

who’s tasked with the
security of this database??

allegheny county, pennsylvania
a predictive risk model for child abuse and neglect

“there are all kinds of biases”

i was at a journalism conference
a few weeks ago
computer-assisted reporting

people who write code
in newsrooms

“it’s so easy! just a
few lines of code!”

code is tremendously
hard for me

approximately
twelve men &
exactly zero
women line for
the microphone

“so this is really more of a
comment than a question”

“so this is really more of a
comment than a question”
(the whole room cringes)

“and there’s no way for me
to say this without sounding
like as ass”

“and there’s no way for me
to say this without sounding
like as ass”
(the room perks up?)

“one of my students got the
same scoop on your story…”

“he did it without
machine learning.”

DO
NOT
give weight
to fancy
buzzwords

“i’m just not a
math person”

because
math is
not magic!
(neither is
computer
science)

because
math is
not magic!
(neither is
computer
science)
(nor is
machine
learning)

because
math is
not magic!
(neither is
computer
science)
(nor is
machine
learning)
(nor are algorithms)

computers will do only
what we ask of them

algorithms are not
one-size-ﬁts-all

let’s be sure to talk
about them as such

thank you
sara simon (i work at the new york times)
@sarambsimon (that’s me on twitter)
fitc tech + creativity (twenty eighteen)

The Algorithm: A Narrative

More Related Content

Similar to The Algorithm: A Narrative

More from FITC

Recently uploaded

The Algorithm: A Narrative