Lessons from Archives: Strategies for Collecting Sociocultural Data in Machine Learning

A growing body of work shows that many problems in fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in machine learning systems are rooted in decisions surrounding the data collection and annotation process. In spite of its fundamental nature however, data collection remains an overlooked part of the machine learning (ML) pipeline. In this paper, we argue that a new specialization should be formed within ML that is focused on methodologies for data collection and annotation: efforts that require institutional frameworks and procedures. Specifically for sociocultural data, parallels can be drawn from archives and libraries. Archives are the longest standing communal effort to gather human information and archive scholars have already developed the language and procedures to address and discuss many challenges pertaining to data collection such as consent, power, inclusivity, transparency, and ethics & privacy. We discuss these five key approaches in document collection practices in archives that can inform data collection in sociocultural ML. By showing data collection practices from another field, we encourage ML research to be more cognizant and systematic in data collection and draw from interdisciplinary expertise.Comment: To be published in Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency FAT* '20, January 27-30, 2020, Barcelona, Spain. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 11 page

Maine Life : Vol. 23, No. 16, September, 1968

Formerly published as Maine Farmer and Homemaker.https://digitalmaine.com/maine_life_magazine/1000/thumbnail.jp

Auto Fun: Pictures and Comments from Life

https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/monographs/1013/thumbnail.jp

Furry Cousin Of E. T.? Wrong

Photograph used for a story in the Oklahoma Times newspaper. Caption: "Called Heller's fruit bat, this fearsome creature posed for Life Magazine in his natural habitat, a cave in Costa Rican rain forest preserve of La Selva where Life photographed

1950 Flickertail Follies

John \u27Doc\u27 Graham drinks from the 2nd place cup of the losers. Co-manager Jerry Corbett (Sigma Chi) and Shirley Scheving (Pi Beta Phi). (from back of photograph) Established by Sigma Delta Chi, a national journalism society, the Flickertail Follies was a student talent and variety show from 1925 until 1962. The Follies were suspended from 1931 to 1935 due to the Great Depression and from 1941 to 1945 for the Second World War. The Follies gained national attention in 1950 when it was featured in Life Magazine . The show ended in 1962 but was revitalized for one year in 1982.https://commons.und.edu/archive-photos/1774/thumbnail.jp

Personal Papers (MS 80-0002)

Invoice from Life Magazine to D. W. Kempner for a copy of "Life's Picture History of World War II"

Eastland and Senator Richard Russell in the Capitol\u27s Statutory Hall

Enclosed: typed letter signed dated 9 November 1962 from Joseph C. Duke, Senate Sergeant at Arms, to Eastland, regarding photograph for Lifehttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/joephoto_d/1040/thumbnail.jp

Maine Life : Vol. 23, No. 16, September, 1968

Formerly published as Maine Farmer and Homemaker.https://digitalmaine.com/maine_life_magazine/1000/thumbnail.jp