Decoding Algorithms

https://www.macalester.edu/news/2019/02/decoding-algorithms/

“What Is an Algorithm?

“An algorithm is just a set of step-by-step instructions, like a recipe,” explains Ruth Berman ’17, who majored in neuroscience and computer science and works as a software engineer at Airbnb.

A computer algorithm can process large quantities of data, which is why one proved to be the recipe for improving satisfaction among the roughly 500 incoming Mac students who need to be assigned to one of 35 first-year seminar courses each year. Before 2009, two staff dedicated one week each summer to maximizing, by hand, the number of first-years placed in the students’ first- or second-choice
seminars.”

Boon or Bane?

Built-in Bias

Eliminating Bias

Data Privacy

Grappling with Data Privacy

Grappling with Equity

The Long View

Stephen