{"id":3457,"date":"2022-01-27T21:12:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T20:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/?p=3457"},"modified":"2022-09-26T14:16:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T12:16:09","slug":"phd-update-january-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/archives\/2022\/01\/27\/phd-update-january-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD update \u2013 January 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been three years<\/a> since I last wrote an update on my PhD. I guess another post is in order. <\/p>\n\n\n

My PhD plan was formally green-lit in October 2019. I am now over three years into this thing. There are roughly two more years left on the clock. I update my plans on a rolling basis. By my latest estimation, I should be ready to request a date for my defense in May 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n

Of course, the pandemic forced me to adjust course. I am lucky enough not to be locked into particular methods or cases that are fundamentally incompatible with our current predicament. But still, I had to change up my methods, and reconsider the sequencing of my planned studies. <\/p>\n\n\n

The conference paper I mentioned in the previous update, using the MX3D bridge<\/a> to explore smart cities\u2019 logic of control and cityness, was rejected by DIS<\/a>. I performed a rewrite, but then came to the conclusion it was kind of a false start. These kinds of things are all in the game, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n

The second paper I wrote uses the Transparent Charging Station<\/a> to investigate how notions of transparent AI differ between experts and citizens. It was finally accepted late last year and should see publication in AI & Society soon. It is titled Tensions in Transparent Urban AI: Designing A Smart Electric Vehicle Charge Point<\/em>. This piece went through multiple major revisions and was previously rejected by DIS and CHI<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

A third paper, Contestable AI by Design: Towards A Framework<\/em>, uses a systematic literature review of AI contestability to construct a preliminary design framework, is currently under review at a major philosophy of technology journal. Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n\n\n

And currently, I am working on my fourth publication, tangentially titled Contestable Camera Cars: A Speculative Design Exploration of Public AI Systems Responsive to Value Change<\/em>, which will be based on empirical work that uses speculative design as a way to develop guidelines and examples for the aforementioned design framework, and to investigate civil servants\u2019 views on the pathways towards contestable AI systems in public administration.<\/p>\n\n\n

Once that one is done, I intend to do one more study, probably looking into monitoring and traceability as potential leverage points for contestability, after which I will turn my attention to completing my thesis. <\/p>\n\n\n

Aside from my research, in 2021 was allowed to develop and teach a master elective centered around my PhD topic, titled AI & Society. In it, students are equipped with technical knowledge of AI, and tools for thinking about AI ethics. They apply these to a design studio project focused on conceptualizing a responsible AI-enabled service that addresses a social issue the city of Amsterdam might conceivably struggle with. Students also write a brief paper reflecting on and critiquing their group design work. You can see me on Vimeo<\/a> do a brief video introduction for students who are considering the course. I will be running the course again this year starting end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n

I also mentored a number of brilliant master graduation students: Xueyao Wang<\/a> (with Jacky Bourgeois as chair) Jooyoung Park<\/a>, Loes Sloetjes<\/a> (both with Roy Bendor as chair) and currently Fabian Geiser (with Euiyoung Kim as chair). Working with students is one of the best parts of being in academia.<\/p>\n\n\n

All of the above would not have been possible without the great support from my supervisory team: Ianus Keller, Neelke Doorn and Gerd Kortuem. I should also give special mention to Thijs Turel at AMS Institute\u2019s Responsible Sensing Lab<\/a>, where most of my empirical work is situated.<\/p>\n\n\n

If you want to dig a little deeper into some of this, I recently set up a website for my PhD project over at contestable.ai<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been three years since I last wrote an update on my PhD. I guess another post is in order. My PhD plan was formally green-lit in October 2019. I am now over three years into this thing. There are roughly two more years left on the clock. I update my plans on a … Continue reading PhD update \u2013 January 2022<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[625],"tags":[1084,1219,1205,1186],"class_list":["post-3457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-automated-decision-making","tag-contestability","tag-phd"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leapfrog.nl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}