June 6th, 2023
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The Rebel Tech Newsletter is our safe place to critique data and tech algorithms, processes and systems. We highlight a recent data article in the news and share resources to help you dig deeper in understand how our digital world operates. DataedX Group helps data educators, scholars and practitioners learn how to make responsible data connections. We help you source remedies and interventions based on the needs of your team or organization.

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IN DATA NEWS

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“The Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labor union representing writers who primarily work in film and television, began a work strike in May after reaching an impasse in negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that represents the US entertainment industry. Part of the disagreement revolved around a WGA proposal to ban the industry from using AIs such as ChatGPT to generate story ideas or scripts for films and shows – the union wants to ensure that such technologies do not undermine writers’ compensation and writing credits. The WGA also proposed that scripts covered by the union’s collective bargaining agreement cannot be used to train AIs. The writers’ strike comes at a time when the separate union representing actors and other performance artists is also looking to regulate possible uses of AI, including using AI to simulate actor performances or digitally edit filmed facial expressions and sync new audio to people’s lips.”

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If you haven’t been paying attention to the WGA strike, you should. It’s more than the “little” union vs the “big” corporations. These labor negotiations are setting a precedent on how corporations will handle 100% certified-human creativity in an AI-enhanced society. WGA is providing a blueprint for how to protect their creative products as well as their livelihoods legally. The entertainment industry is trying to hedge their bets in not conceding to a certain percentage of royalties of streamed shows and viewership, not agreeing to not train AI writing tools like ChatGPT on the backs of human writer’s work and so on. This strike is basically a practical AI regulation, compliance and policy negotiation.

While the world doesn’t know how all these AI tools will affect the workforce, it’s clear that people don’t want to have their skills, expertise and work products fed into algorithms — and especially without guaranteed short-term and long-term compensation. These WGA strikers recognize that they are just employees or gig workers, they are micro-entrepreneurs. These “big” corporations are contending with a group who knows their value and worth. Federal and state legislation on data privacy and AI regulation has been a slog. This is a tussle I’m watching with keen interest. The match has been lit and the fire is only spreading. The WGA strike has galvanized meaningful data privacy and AI regulation policy discussions. I’m rooting for the WGA as a 100% human data equity thought leadership author and content creator. In the famous words of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, watch this space. ​
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DATA CONSCIENCE CORNER

“I’ll describe how bias shows up and ways to shift our mindset on how we recognize and handle it, even before we write a single line of code.”

Much of the mainstream discourse about bias in AI doesn’t provide a concrete relatable algorithm that’s oppressive. So here’s one such biased metric: average. We can calculate the same average value across the same number of elements by simply changing the individual values. For example, an average of 3 is achieved by summing 3, 3, 3, 3 and 3 as well as by summing 1, 1, 1, 6 and 6. Knowing the number 3, the average value, isn’t sufficient in providing the proper context. Average masks the values’ distribution and, by proxy, removes informative context. In the first list, every value equally contributes to the average calculation. However, 2 values are carrying the majority of the load in the second list. So now every time you view an average value, the followup information needed are the number of elements and their distribution.

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A WORD FOR BLACK WOMEN IN DATA

Sis, you can be of help AND get paid.

You’ve spent years honing your data skills and hours volunteering your data expertise. Your gratitude for “just being in the room” has run its course. You don’t own anyone or anything a debt. You are your ancestors wildest dream: free to do what you want to do in the way you want to do it. A necessary step, though, is to command compensation.

Daily-ish rest routine suggestion: I drink 2 8-oz glasses of warm water with 2 teaspoons of lime juice when I first wake up. It helps me anchor my day — ushering it in peacefully.
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Daily-ish rest routine suggestion: I drink 2 8-oz glasses of warm water with 2 teaspoons of lime juice when I first wake up. It helps me anchor my day — ushering it in peacefully.

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Black Women in Data Summit

September 23-24, 2023

ATL | Online

$499 In-Person | $129 Online

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First, check out these hotel accommodation suggestions for those of you planning to attend in-person. Second fyi, there’s no room block but we’re months away from the Summit so you could get a great rate. And we’ve also updated the Summit’s schedule. The times have been shifted a little bit – September 23, 9AM - 5:30PM EST and September 24, 10AM - 2:45PM EST. Also, our speakers’ session titles and descriptions are now available. And lastly, reserve your spot as in-person tickets go up to $599 on Jun 20, 2023.​
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UPCOMING EVENTS

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The Data Conscience Book Tour 2023 | Informatica Juneteenth Event

I am so happy to announce that Informatica has joined the Data Conscience Book Tour. On June 8th, I'll be speaking with a small group of their employees for their upcoming IBRG Juneteenth AI ethics event.

We'll be discussing the ethical implications of AI, and we'll be going over how we can tackle bias and discrimination in data.

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LAUGHING IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

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Stay Rebel Techie,

Brandeis

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