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Algorithms, AI, and First-Year Academic Skills

Prior Knowledge Check

Over the next few pages, we'll be building our awareness--basic, critical, and rhetorical understanding of algorithms, but first--a prior knowledge check: 

  • In your own words, what is an algorithm?
  • Can algorithms be bias? Why or why not?
  • How do algorithms show up in our day-to-day life?
  • What is an example of an algorithm you rely on the most?

Garingan, Dominique & Pickard, Alison. (2021). Artificial Intelligence in Legal Practice: Exploring Theoretical Frameworks for Algorithmic Literacy in the Legal Information Profession. Legal Information Management. 21. 97-117. 10.1017/S1472669621000190. 

Basic Awareness | Algorithms Explained

  • Which explanation helped your understanding the most (child, teen, college student, adult)?
  • In your own words, what is an algorithm?
  • How do you use algorithms in your day-to-day life? What types of problems do they help you solve?
  • How do you think you'll use algorithms in college? What types of problems do you think they'll help you solve? 

Test Drive

Test Drive General Algorithms (1) 

  1. Begin and browse a typical Google; 
  2. Use the same key words, now begin and browse results from Duck Duck Go, a search engine that does not collect IP addresses and other search history information. 

Test Drive Personal Algorithms (2) 

1.    Log in to your Google account on your phone or laptop.
2.    Click the Data & Personalization tab.
3.    Scroll down to Ad Personalization and click the link to “Go to ad settings.”
4.    Under “How your ads are personalized,” scroll through the personal information Google has collected about you including your presumed age and gender, shopping habits, and interests.

Share your findings and observations with your partner, then the class.

Koenig, Abby. (2020). The Algorithms Know Me and I Know Them: Using Student Journals to Uncover Algorithmic Literacy Awareness. Computers and Composition. 58. 102611. 10.1016/j.compcom.2020.102611.

How do algorithms know what you like?

  • What did you learn from watching this news report? Anything surprise you?
  • Do you think algorithms should be transparent? Why or why not? Who should be held responsible for algorithmic bias?
  • Do you think your own search results or social media feed is shaped by biased algorithms? What do you think the feed is biased towards? And what effect does that have on what you believe about yourself, feel towards others, or interact with the world?

FURTHER READING:

Algorithms Tips

In Class Activity

Pick a social media app of your choosing. Swift through the "For Your Page;" specifically, find (1) post promoting an idea and (2) a post promoting a product. Then, reflect on the following: 

  • Do you feel in control of what you consume online? Why or why not? 
  • What patterns do you notice? Any consistent #hastags? Are they words or adjectives you'd used to describe yourself or your interests?
  • In what ways might this content be part of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Do you think it’s popular because it's valuable—or is it valuable because it's popularized by the algorithm?

  • Who stands to profit from your engagement or purchase? Who is served when that idea spreads? Whose voice or viewpoint is being centered or amplified?

Sit for a moment to ponder the sheer scale of this impact on our culture. Millions of users be fed the simila ideas on politics, consumerism, even gender norms. What implications are you drawing?

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