The case against big data: "It’s like you’re being put into a cult, but you don’t actually believe in it" http://www.salon.com/2016/09/08/the-case-against-big-data-it-is-like-youre-being-put-into-a-cult-but-you-dont-actually-believe-in-it/
But it’s opaque right? Which is also what a lot of these things have in common. It’s opaque, and it’s unaccountable. You cannot appeal it because it is opaque. Not only is it opaque, but I actually filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the source code. And I was told I couldn’t get the source code and not only that, but I was told the reason why was that New York City had signed a contract with this place called VARK in Madison, Wisconsin. Which was an agreement that they wouldn’t get access to the source code either. The Department of Education, the city of New York City but nobody in the city, in other words, could truly explain the scores of the teachers. It was like an alien had come down to earth and said, "Here are some scores, we’re not gonna explain them to you, but you should trust them. And by the way you can’t appeal them and you will not be given explanations for how to get better."
-- ☣ glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
