Responsible Integration of Behavioral Science in Computer Science Research and Development

Cross disciplinary research is essential for technological innovation. For decades, computer science (Comp Sci) has leveraged behavior science (Behav Sci) research to create innovative products and improve end user experience. Despite the natural challenges that come with cross disciplinary work, there are no published manuscripts outlining how to responsibly integrate Behav Sci into Comp Sci research and development. This publication fills this critical gap by discussing important differences between Behav Sci and Comp Sci, particularly with regard to how each field fits under the umbrella of science and how each field conceptualizes data. We then discuss the consequences of misusing Behav Sci and provide examples of technology efforts that drew inappropriate or unethical conclusions about their behavioral data. We discuss in detail common errors to avoid at each stage of the research process, which we condensed into a useful checklist to use as a tool for teams integrating Behav Sci in their work. Finally, we include examples of good applications of Behav Sci into Comp Sci research, the design of which can inform and strengthen digital government, e-commerce, defense, and many other areas of information technology

Control theoretic models of pointing

This article presents an empirical comparison of four models from manual control theory on their ability to model targeting behaviour by human users using a mouse: McRuer’s Crossover, Costello’s Surge, second-order lag (2OL), and the Bang-bang model. Such dynamic models are generative, estimating not only movement time, but also pointer position, velocity, and acceleration on a moment-to-moment basis. We describe an experimental framework for acquiring pointing actions and automatically fitting the parameters of mathematical models to the empirical data. We present the use of time-series, phase space, and Hooke plot visualisations of the experimental data, to gain insight into human pointing dynamics. We find that the identified control models can generate a range of dynamic behaviours that captures aspects of human pointing behaviour to varying degrees. Conditions with a low index of difficulty (ID) showed poorer fit because their unconstrained nature leads naturally to more behavioural variability. We report on characteristics of human surge behaviour (the initial, ballistic sub-movement) in pointing, as well as differences in a number of controller performance measures, including overshoot, settling time, peak time, and rise time. We describe trade-offs among the models. We conclude that control theory offers a promising complement to Fitts’ law based approaches in HCI, with models providing representations and predictions of human pointing dynamics, which can improve our understanding of pointing and inform design

When users control the algorithms: Values expressed in practices on the twitter platform

Recent interest in ethical AI has brought a slew of values, including fairness, into conversations about technology design. Research in the area of algorithmic fairness tends to be rooted in questions of distribution that can be subject to precise formalism and technical implementation. We seek to expand this conversation to include the experiences of people subject to algorithmic classification and decision-making. By examining tweets about the “Twitter algorithm” we consider the wide range of concerns and desires Twitter users express. We find a concern with fairness (narrowly construed) is present, particularly in the ways users complain that the platform enacts a political bias against conservatives. However, we find another important category of concern, evident in attempts to exert control over the algorithm. Twitter users who seek control do so for a variety of reasons, many well justified. We argue for the need for better and clearer definitions of what constitutes legitimate and illegitimate control over algorithmic processes and to consider support for users who wish to enact their own collective choices

Credit policies : lessons from East Asia

Directed credit programs were a major tool of development in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, their usefulness was reconsidered. Experience in most countries showed that they stimulated capital-intensive projects, that preferential funds were often (mis)used for nonpriority purposes, that a decline in financial discipline led to low repayment rates, and that budget deficits swelled. Moreover, the programs were hard to remove. But Japan and other East Asian countries have long touted the merits of focused, well-managed directed credit programs, saying they are warranted when there is a significant discrepancy between private and social benefits, when invesment risk is too high on certain projects, and when information problems discourage lending to small and medium-size firms. The assumption underlying policy-based assistance and other forms of industrial assistance (such as lower taxes) is that the main constraint on new or expanding enterprises is limited to access to credit. The authors give an overview of credit policies in East Asian countries (China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea) as well as India, and summarize what these countries have learned about directed credit programs. Among the lessons: 1) Credit programs must small, narrowly focused, and of limited duration (with clear sunset provisions); 2) subsidies must be low to minimize distortion of incentives as well as the tax on financial intermediation that all such programs entail; 3) credit programs must be financed by long-term funds to prevent inflation and macroeconomic instability, recourse to central bank credit should be avoided except in the very early stages of development when the central bank's assistance can help jump-start economic growth; 4) they should aim at achieving positive externalities (or avoiding negative ones), any help to declining industries should include plans for their timely phaseout; 5) they should promote industrialization and export orientation in a competitive private sector with internationaly competitive operations; 6) they should be part of a credible vision of economic development that promotes growth with equity and should involve a long-term strategy to develop a sound financial system; 7) policy based loans should be channeled through well-capitalized, administratively capable financial institutions, professionally managed by autonomous managers; 8) they should be based on clear, objective, easily monitored criteria; 9) programs should aim for a good repayment record and few losses; and 10) they should be supported by effective mechanisms for communication and consultation between the public and private sectors, including the collection and dissemination of basic market information.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Financial Intermediation,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Financial Intermediation,Economic Theory&Research,Housing Finance,Banks&Banking Reform

The cocktail party effect. An inclusive vision of conversational interactions

Studying the behaviour of disabled users can provide data for designing inclusive technologies for everyone. The focus of this paper is the field of inclusive design in conversational interaction.S..