Mind The Gap: Designers and Standards on Algorithmic System Transparency for Users

Schor, Bianca G. S.; Norval, Chris; Charlesworth, Ellen; Singh, Jatinder

Abstract

Many call for algorithmic systems to be more transparent, yet it is often unclear for designers how to do so in practice. Standards are emerging that aim to support designers in building transparent systems, e.g by setting testable transparency levels, but their efficacy in this regard is not yet understood. In this paper, we use the ‘Standard for Transparency of Autonomous Systems’ (IEEE 7001) to explore designers’ understanding of algorithmic system transparency, and the degree to which their perspectives align with the standard’s recommendations. Our mixed-method study reveals participants consider transparency important, difficult to implement, and welcome support. However, despite IEEE 7001’s potential, many did not find its recommendations particularly appropriate. Given the importance and increased attention on transparency, and because standards like this purport to guide system design, our findings reveal the need for ‘bridging the gap’, through (i) raising designers’ awareness about the importance of algorithmic system transparency, alongside (ii) better engagement between stakeholders (i.e. standards bodies, designers, users). We further identify opportunities towards developing transparency best practices, as means to help drive more responsible systems going forward.

Citation

Schor, B. G. S., Norval, C., Charlesworth, E., & Singh, J. (2024, May). Mind The Gap: Designers and Standards on Algorithmic System Transparency for Users. Presented at CHI '24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, HI, USA

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: CHI '24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• Start Date: May 11, 2024
• End Date: May 16, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 11, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-05
• Deposit Date: May 20, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 20, 2024
• Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-16
• Book Title: CHI '24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• ISBN: 9798400703300
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642531
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2453776