Student researchers, graduate fellows, and faculty are working together on different research projects throughout the year. At the heart of our work are the collaborative spring projects. Every year, a new cohort of students produces a piece of public scholarship concerned with digital due process.
January 2025 –
Scores That Travel
This research project explores how computationally generated scores travel across industries, domains, and applications. The goal is to develop a better understanding of these journeys that can complement the growing field of algorithmic auditing and related efforts to evaluate the harms and benefits of specific systems. Learn more →
Researchers: Marc Aidinoff (PI), Nicole Fan, Elisabeth Pan, Rachel Sulciner | Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286)
January 2022 –
Humans of AI
In this project, we build a new initiative that we call “Humans of AI.” Our goal is collect the stories and experiences of people who have been subject to automated systems and who we do not usually hear about. Using oral history interviews, we work with people who want to share their stories and make them useful for a broader audience. Learn more →
Researchers: Joanna Moon, Kerry Wong, Kuunemuebari Mini, Nabiha Qureshi, Noor-E-Jehan Umar, Vicki Xie, Tanvi, Namjoshi, Malte Ziewitz | Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286)
May 2021 –
Credit Score Desimulator™
In this project, we re-appropriate the interactive form of the credit score simulator in order to make visible the “hidden” scoring factors and assumptions built into the system. Rather than focusing on the official factors such as lines of credit, credit utilization ratios, and on-time payments, we construct an alternative scoring model based on research that takes into account those features usually externalized. Variables like wealth, gender, and ZIP code, for example, have been shown to be important factors influencing credit scores. So why not build a simulator based on these ideas and include them in the calculation? Learn more →
Researchers: Michael Tyrrell, Malte Ziewitz | Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286)
February 2021 – January 2023
Everyday Ecologies of Scoring: An Exploratory Map
What does a human being look like through the lens of all the ratings, scores, and metrics that are supposed to represent them in their daily life? In this project, we map the ecology of scores and scoring that a person has to navigate. Credit scores, performance metrics, Uber ratings, immigration points, consumers scores, insurance risk assessments, and social media karma: we are surrounded by a web of more or less visible metrics that have far-ranging consequences for our lives. Whereas researchers usually study the implications of specific scores and metrics, we are taking a holistic view and want to find out whether and to what extent the myriad of different scoring systems shape and influence each other—and what, if anything, can be done to challenge them. Learn more →
Researchers: Christopher Chandra, Carson Crane, Sam Tesfaye, Valerie Kong, Hannah Dominguez, Grace Cala, Stephen Yang, Yue Zhao, Malte Ziewitz | Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286); Milstein Program for Technology & Humanity
February 2020 – December 2021
Documenting the Lived Experiences of Data Subjects
In this project, we document the lived experiences of people struggling with web search results. Through a series of qualitative interviews, we collect the stories from small business owners and local activists to politicians running for public office and people re-entering society after prison terms. Learn more →
Researchers: Ciarra Lee, Cassidy McGovern, Amy Eng, Annika Pinch, Kyra Wisniewski, Deana Gonzales, Emma Li, Sterling Williams-Ceci, Stephen Yang, Ranjit Singh, Malte Ziewitz | Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286)
Reports:
Singh R, Eng A, Gonzales D, Lee C, Li E, McGovern C, Pinch A, Williams-Ceci S, Wisniewski K, Yang, S and Ziewitz M (2020). Scoring Struggles: Everyday Experiences of Web Search Engines. Working Paper #1, August. Ithaca, NY: Digital Due Process Clinic.
Restoring Credit: How People Understand and Interact with Credit Scoring Systems
Recovering from a broken credit score can be an existential challenge. While credit bureaus, banks, and regulators tend to suggest that errors can be fixed and scores improved without the need for special expertise, especially low-income Americans and traditionally disadvantaged groups are struggling to keep up. How do people make sense of and engage with scoring systems on a daily basis? Drawing on work in science & technology studies (STS), anthropology, sociology, and information science, this project traces the credit repair journeys of a small number of people in Upstate New York.
Researchers: Ranjit Singh, Malte Ziewitz | Funding: Cornell Center for the Social Sciences (CCSS) Small Grant
Publications:
Ziewitz, M. and R. Singh (2021). “Critical Companionship: Some Sensibilities for Studying with Data Subjects.” Big Data & Society 8(2): 20539517211061122