Algorithms as Social-Ecological-Technological Systems: an Environmental Justice Lens on Algorithmic Audits
Bogdana Rakova, Roel Dobbe

TL;DR
This paper introduces a novel environmental justice-oriented framework for auditing algorithms by viewing them as interconnected social-ecological-technological systems, emphasizing relations and emergent impacts.
Contribution
It proposes defining algorithmic systems as Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (SETS) and offers a qualitative audit framework with policy recommendations for environmental justice.
Findings
SETS analysis helps understand emergent environmental impacts
A qualitative framework guides impact assessment across stakeholders
Policy recommendations promote inclusive and place-based audits
Abstract
This paper reframes algorithmic systems as intimately connected to and part of social and ecological systems, and proposes a first-of-its-kind methodology for environmental justice-oriented algorithmic audits. How do we consider environmental and climate justice dimensions of the way algorithmic systems are designed, developed, and deployed? These impacts are inherently emergent and can only be understood and addressed at the level of relations between an algorithmic system and the social (including institutional) and ecological components of the broader ecosystem it operates in. As a result, we claim that in absence of an integral ontology for algorithmic systems, we cannot do justice to the emergent nature of broader environmental impacts of algorithmic systems and their underlying computational infrastructure. We propose to define algorithmic systems as ontologically indistinct from…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMobile Crowdsensing and Crowdsourcing · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
