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American AI Initiative

Trump creates American AI Initiative to boost research, train displaced workers

The order is designed to protect American technology, national security, privacy, and values when it comes to artificial intelligence.

STEPHEN SHANKLAND,SEAN KEANE FEBRUARY 11, 2019

https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-to-create-american-ai-initiative-with-executive-order/

President Donald Trump on Monday directed federal agencies to improve the nation’s artificial intelligence abilities — and help people whose jobs are displaced by the automation it enables.

t’s good for the US government to focus on AI, said Daniel Castro, chief executive of the Center for Data Innovation, a technology-focused think tank that supports the initiative.

Silicon Valley has been investing heavily in AI in recent years, but the path hasn’t always been an easy one. In October, for instance, Google withdrew from competition for a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing contract, saying it might conflict with its principles for ethical use of AI.

Trump this week is also reportedly expected to sign an executive order banning Chinese telecom equipment from US wireless networks by the end of February.

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more on AI in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=artificial+intelligence

Policy for Artificial Intelligence

Law is Code: Making Policy for Artificial Intelligence

Jules Polonetsky and Omer Tene January 16, 2019

https://www.ourworld.co/law-is-code-making-policy-for-artificial-intelligence/

Twenty years have passed since renowned Harvard Professor Larry Lessig coined the phrase “Code is Law”, suggesting that in the digital age, computer code regulates behavior much like legislative code traditionally did.  These days, the computer code that powers artificial intelligence (AI) is a salient example of Lessig’s statement.

  • Good AI requires sound data.  One of the principles,  some would say the organizing principle, of privacy and data protection frameworks is data minimization.  Data protection laws require organizations to limit data collection to the extent strictly necessary and retain data only so long as it is needed for its stated goal. 
  • Preventing discrimination – intentional or not.
    When is a distinction between groups permissible or even merited and when is it untoward?  How should organizations address historically entrenched inequalities that are embedded in data?  New mathematical theories such as “fairness through awareness” enable sophisticated modeling to guarantee statistical parity between groups.
  • Assuring explainability – technological due process.  In privacy and freedom of information frameworks alike, transparency has traditionally been a bulwark against unfairness and discrimination.  As Justice Brandeis once wrote, “Sunlight is the best of disinfectants.”
  • Deep learning means that iterative computer programs derive conclusions for reasons that may not be evident even after forensic inquiry. 

Yet even with code as law and a rising need for law in code, policymakers do not need to become mathematicians, engineers and coders.  Instead, institutions must develop and enhance their technical toolbox by hiring experts and consulting with top academics, industry researchers and civil society voices.  Responsible AI requires access to not only lawyers, ethicists and philosophers but also to technical leaders and subject matter experts to ensure an appropriate balance between economic and scientific benefits to society on the one hand and individual rights and freedoms on the other hand.

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more on AI in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=artificial+intelligence

Your Brain Off Facebook

This Is Your Brain Off Facebook

Planning on quitting the social platform? A major new study offers a glimpse of what unplugging might do for your life. (Spoiler: It’s not so bad.)

Benedict Carey, Jan 30, 2019

This Is Your Brain Off Facebook by BENEDICT CAREY

So what happens if you actually do quit? A new study, the most comprehensive to date, offers a preview.

Well before news broke that Facebook had shared users’ data without consent, scientists and habitual users debated how the platform had changed the experience of daily life.

the use of Facebook and other social media is linked to mental distress, especially in adolescents.

Others have likened habitual Facebook use to a mental disorder, comparing it to drug addiction and even publishing magnetic-resonance images of what Facebook addiction “looks like in the brain.”

When Facebook has published its own analyses to test such claims, the company has been roundly criticized.

For abstainers, breaking up with Facebook freed up about an hour a day, on average, and more than twice that for the heaviest users.

research led by Ethan Kross, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, has found that high levels of passive browsing on social media predict lowered moods, compared to more active engagement.

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more on Facebook in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=facebook

Facial Recognition Technology in schools

With Safety in Mind, Schools Turn to Facial Recognition Technology. But at What Cost?

By Emily Tate     Jan 31, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-31-with-safety-in-mind-schools-turn-to-facial-recognition-technology-but-at-what-cost

SAFR (Secure, Accurate Facial Recognition)

violent deaths in schools have stayed relatively constant over the last 30 years, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. But then there’s the emotive reality, which is that every time another event like Sandy Hook or Parkland occurs, many educators and students feel they are in peril when they go to school.

RealNetworks, a Seattle-based software company that was popular in the 1990s for its audio and video streaming services but has since expanded to offer other tools, including SAFR (Secure, Accurate Facial Recognition), its AI-supported facial recognition software.

After installing new security cameras, purchasing a few Apple devices and upgrading the school’s Wi-Fi, St. Therese was looking at a $24,000 technology tab.

The software is programmed to allow authorized users into the building with a smile.

“Facial recognition isn’t a panacea. It is just a tool,” says Collins, who focuses on education privacy issues.

Another part of the problem with tools like SAFR, is it provides a false sense of security.

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more on surveillance in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=surveillance

more on privacy in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=privacy

School Safety and Student Wellbeing

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: February 12, 2019
Leveraging Technology for the Improvement of School Safety and Student Wellbeing
A book edited by Dr. Stephanie Huffman, Dr. Stacey Loyless, Dr. Shelly Allbritton, and Dr. Charlotte Green (University of Central Arkansas)

Introduction
Technology permeates all aspects of today’s school systems. An Internet search on technology in schools can generate millions of website results. The vast majority of these websites (well over 8,000,000 results for one simple search) focuses on advice, activities, and uses of technology in the classroom. Clearly teaching and learning with technology dominates the literature and conversations on how technology should or could be used in classroom settings. A search on school safety and technology can produce more than 3,000,000 results with many addressing technological tools such as video cameras, entry control devices, weapon detectors, and other such hardware. However, in recent times, cyberbullying appears to dominate the Internet conversations in references to school safety. With an increase in school violence in the past two decades, school safety is a fundamental concern in our nation’s schools. Policy makers, educators, parents, and students are seeking answers in how best to protect the physical, emotional, and social well-being of all children.

 

Objective of the Book
The proposed edited book covers the primary topic of P-12 school safety and the use of technology and technology used for fostering an environment in which all students can be academically successful and thrive as global citizens.  School safety is defined as the physical, social, and emotional well-being of children. The book will comprise empirical, conceptual and case based (practical application) research that craft an overall understanding of the issues in creating a “safe” learning environment and the role technology can and should play; where a student’s well-being is valued and protected from external and internal entities, equitable access is treasured as a means for facilitating the growth of the whole student, and policy, practices, and procedures are implemented to build a foundation to transform the culture and climate of the school into an inclusive nurturing environment.

 

Target Audience
The target audience is leadership and education scholars, leadership practitioners, and technology coordinators.  This book will be used as a collective body of work for the improvement of K-12 schools and as a tool for improving leadership and teacher preparation programs. School safety is a major concern for educators.  Technology has played a role in creating unsafe environments for children; however it also is an avenue for addressing the challenges of school safety

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Section I – Digital Leadership

  • Technology as a Climate and Cultural Transformation Tool
    • School Leadership in the Digital Age: Building a Shared Vision for all Aspects of Learning and Teaching
  • Ensuring Equity within a “One to One” Technology Framework
    • Infrastructure within Communities
    • Accessible WiFi for Low SES Students
    • Developing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
  • Professional Development for School Leaders

Section II – Well Being

  • Social Media and School Safety: Inputs and Outputs
    • Tip lines: Crime, Bullying, Threats
    • Communication and Transparency
    • Platform for Social Justice
  • Teaching Strategies to Promote Healthy Student Interactions in Cyberspace (Digital Citizenship?)
    • Building Capacity and Efficacy, Platform to lower incidence of Cyber-Bullying, Boosting Instructional Engagement
  • Literacy and Preparedness for the Influence and Consequence of Digital Media Marketing Campaigns directed toward Children, Adolescents, and Teens.
  • Pioneering Innovative Technology Program in Curriculum: Fostering “Belonging” beyond Athletics & Arts.

Section III- Infrastructure Safety

  • Campus/Facility Safety and Security
    • Rural Schools vs. Urban Schools
    • Digital A/V Systems
    • Background Check – Visitor Registration (i.e. Raptor)
  • Network Security Systems and Protocols
    • User Filtering and Monitoring
    • Firewalls
  • Policy
    • Appropriate use policies
    • Digital Citizenship
    • Web development policy
    • Privacy
    • Intellectual Property & Copyright

Section IV – Academic Success

  • Professional Development for Classroom Teachers
    • Pedagogical Integration of Technology
    • Instructional Coaching for Student Engagement
    • Increase Rigor with Technology
    • Competence in the Blended/Hybrid/Flipped Classroom
  • Technology to enhance learning for all
    • Assistive Technology
    • Accessibility issues
    • Internet access for Low SES Students in the Blended/Hybrid/Flipped Classroom
  • Personal Learning Design
    • Differentiation for Student Efficacy
    • Strategies for Increasing Depth of Knowledge
    • Design Qualities for Enhanced Engagement

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before February 12, 2019, a chapter proposal of 1,000 to 2,000 words clearly explaining the purpose, methodology, and a brief summary findings of his or her proposed chapter. Authors will be notified by March 12, 2019 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by June 12, 2019, and all interested authors must consult the guidelines for manuscript submissions at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/ prior to submission. See Edited Chapter Template. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, Leveraging Technology for the Improvement of School Safety and Student Wellbeing. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.

All proposals should be submitted through the eEditorial Discovery®TM online submission manager. USE THE FOLLOWING LINK TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL.  https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/3709

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), an international academic publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. IGI Global specializes in publishing reference books, scholarly journals, and electronic databases featuring academic research on a variety of innovative topic areas including, but not limited to, education, social science, medicine and healthcare, business and management, information science and technology, engineering, public administration, library and information science, media and communication studies, and environmental science. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit http://www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2020.

Important Dates
February 12, 2019: Proposal Submission Deadline
March 12, 2019: Notification of Acceptance
June 12, 2019: Full Chapter Submission
August 10, 2019: Review Results Returned
August 10, 2019: Final Acceptance Notification
September 7, 2019: Final Chapter Submission

Inquiries can be forwarded to
Dr. Stephanie Huffman
University of Central Arkansas
steph@uca.edu or 501-450-5430

ethics and exact sciences

University Data Science Programs Turn to Ethics and the Humanities

By Sydney Johnson     Jan 11, 2019

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-01-11-university-data-science-programs-turn-to-ethics-and-the-humanities

“Formulating a product, you better know about ethics and understand legal frameworks.”

These days a growing number of people are concerned with bringing more talk of ethics into technology. One question is whether that will bring change to data-science curricula.

Following major data breaches and privacy scandals at tech companies like Facebook, universities including Stanford, the University of Texas and Harvard have all added ethics courses into computer science degree programs to address tech’s “ethical dark side,” the New York Times has reported.

As more college and universities consider incorporating humanities courses into technical degree programs, some are asking what kind of ethics should be taught.

 

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more on ethics in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=ethics

Conference on Digital Libraries

CM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries
June 2-6, 2019 – Urbana-Champaign, IL
Curated Knowledge. Connected People. Extraordinary Results.
UPDATED DEADLINE: January 25, 2019
JCDL welcomes interesting submissions ranging across theories, systems,
services, and applications. We invite those managing, operating, developing,
curating, evaluating, or utilizing digital libraries broadly defined, covering
academic or public institutions, including archives, museums, and social
networks. We seek involvement of those in iSchools, as well as working in
computer or information or social sciences and technologies. Multiple tracks
and sessions will ensure tailoring to researchers, practitioners, and diverse
communities including data science/analytics, data curation/stewardship,
information retrieval, human-computer interaction, hypertext (and Web/network
science), multimedia, publishing, preservation, digital humanities, machine
learning/AI, heritage/culture, health/medicine, policy, law, and privacy/
intellectual property.
Additional Topics of Interest:
In addition to the topics indicated above, the following are some of the many
topics that will be considered relevant, as long as connections are made to
digital libraries:
* Collaborative and participatory information environments
* Crowdsourcing and human computation
* Cyberinfrastructure architectures, applications, and deployments
* Distributed information systems
* Document genres
* Extracting semantics, entities, and patterns from large collections
* Information and knowledge systems
* Information visualization
* Infrastructure and service design
* Knowledge discovery
* Linked data and its applications
* Performance evaluation
* Personal digital information management
* Scientific data management
* Social media, architecture, and applications
* Social networks, virtual organizations and networked information
* User behavior and modeling
* User communities and user research
We invite submissions in many forms: short papers, long papers, panels,
posters, tutorials, and workshops. We also host a Doctoral Consortium.
Submission Deadlines:
Jan. 25, 2019 – Tutorial, workshop, full paper and short paper, and consortium
submissions
Jan. 29, 2019 – Panel, poster and demonstration submissions
Submissions are to be made in electronic format via the conference’s EasyChair
submission page. Please see the conference website for more details:
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F2019.jcdl.org%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cpmiltenoff%40stcloudstate.edu%7C51f8325dcd444ea9051b08d67affde34%7C5e40e2ed600b4eeaa9851d0c9dcca629%7C0&sdata=RaBtwLMPYb0gwcqsXHHXsNODc1UrU3w3BFtI7uMgtKY%3D&reserved=0
To maximize your use of LITA-L or to unsubscribe, see https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ala.org%2Flita%2Finvolve%2Femail&data=01%7C01%7Cpmiltenoff%40stcloudstate.edu%7C51f8325dcd444ea9051b08d67affde34%7C5e40e2ed600b4eeaa9851d0c9dcca629%7C0&sdata=panFuqJKW49%2B1XimfiRvGBQjgajRVMyCCIpXqpiPXbQ%3D&reserved=0

Blockchain next election

Blockchain Disciples Have a New Goal: Running Our Next Election

Amid vote-hacking fears, election officials are jumping on the crypto bandwagon — but cybersecurity experts are sounding an alarm

At democracy’s heart lies a set of paradoxes: a delicate interplay of identity and anonymity, secrecy and transparency. To be sure you are eligible to vote and that you do so only once, the authorities need to know who you are. But when it comes time for you to mark a ballot, the government must guarantee your privacy and anonymity. After the fact, it also needs to provide some means for a third party to audit the election, while also preventing you from obtaining definitive proof of your choice, which could lead to vote selling or coercion.
Building a system that accomplishes all this at once — and does so securely — is challenging enough in the physical world. It’s even harder online, as the recent revelation that Russian intelligence operatives compromised voting systems in multiple states makes clear.
In the decade since the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto published an infamous white paper outlining the idea behind bitcoin, a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” based on a mathematical “consensus mechanism,” more than 1,500 new cryptocurrencies have come into being.
definition: Nathan Heller in the New Yorker, in which he compares the blockchain to a scarf knit with a single ball of yarn. “It’s impossible to remove part of the fabric, or to substitute a swatch, without leaving some trace,” Heller wrote. Typically, blockchains are created by a set of stakeholders working to achieve consensus at every step, so it might be even more apt to picture a knitting collective creating that single scarf together, moving forward only when a majority agrees that a given knot is acceptable.
Unlike bitcoin, a public blockchain powered by thousands of miners around the world, most voting systems, including Votem’s, employ what’s known as a “permissioned ledger,” in which a handful of approved groups (political parties, election observers, government entities) would be allowed to validate the transactions.
there’s the issue of targeted denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, in which a hacker directs so much traffic at a server that it’s overwhelmed and ceases to function.
Although a distributed ledger itself would likely withstand such an attack, the rest of the system — from voters’ personal devices to the many servers a vote would pass through on its way to the blockchain — would remain vulnerable.
there’s the so-called penetration attack, like the University of Michigan incursion, in which an adversary gains control of a server and deliberately alters the outcome of an election.
While it’s true that information recorded on a blockchain cannot be changed, a determined hacker might well find another way to disrupt the process. Bitcoin itself has never been hacked, for instance, but numerous bitcoin “wallets” have been, resulting in billions of dollars in losses. In early June 2018, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange was penetrated, causing the value of bitcoin to tumble and resulting in a loss of $42 billion in market value. So although recording the vote tally on a blockchain introduces a new obstacle to penetration attacks, it still leaves holes elsewhere in the system — like putting a new lock on your front door but leaving your basement windows open.
A blockchain is only as valuable as the data stored on it. And whereas traditional paper ballots preserve an indelible record of the actual intent of each voter, digital votes “don’t produce an original hard-copy record of any kind,”
In the end, democracy always depends on a certain leap of faith, and faith can never be reduced to a mathematical formula. The Economist Intelligence Unit regularly ranks the world’s most democratic counties. In 2017, the United States came in 21st place, after Uruguay and Malta. Meanwhile, it’s now widely believed that John F. Kennedy owed his 1960 win to election tampering in Chicago. The Supreme Court decision granting the presidency to George W. Bush rather than calling a do-over — despite Al Gore’s popular-vote win — still seems iffy. Significant doubts remain about the 2016 presidential race.
While little doubt remains that Russia favored Trump in the 2016 election, the Kremlin’s primary target appears to have been our trust in the system itself. So if the blockchain’s trendy allure can bolster trust in American democracy, maybe that’s a net positive for our national security. If someone manages to hack the system, hopefully they’ll do so quietly. Apologies to George Orwell, but sometimes ignorance really is strength.

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more on blockchain in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=blockchain

ELI Annual Meeting 2019

ELI Annual Meeting 2019

https://events.educause.edu/eli/annual-meeting/2019/programs-and-tracks

  • What new kinds of leadership are required for this new teaching and learning landscape?
  • What are the best methods and techniques that promote innovation and creative thinking to support student learning?
  • What new educational technologies seem most promising?
  • What role should data and analytics play, and what are the trade-offs between analytics and privacy?
  • How can we best determine the efficacy of our learning innovations and technologies?
  • What learning spaces and environments best promote active learning

2019 ELI Annual Meeting Tracks

  • Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
  • Analytics: Privacy, Learning Data, Student Advising, and Interventions
  • Digital and Information Literacy
  • Faculty Development and Engagement
  • Innovation in Instructional Design and Course Models
  • Leadership and Academic Transformation
  • Learning Efficacy: Impact Evaluation, Learning Research and Science
  • Learning Environments and Spaces
  • Learning Horizons: Emerging Technology, Ground-Breaking Practices, and Educational Futures
  • Open Education
  • Student Success

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