Burcu Baykurt
The Transnational Politics of Algorithmic Accountability
To what extent do socio-political cultures and political-economic systems of countries matter in crafting policies of algorithmic accountability? How do government officials compare and contrast national policies of algorithmic accountability with other countries? Is there a competition or a consensus emerging on the idea of building a common framework of algorithmic accountability at an international level? This project proposes to conduct a comparative analysis of algorithmic accountability policies across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and the European Union using border technologies as a case study. The goals are to identify (1) the range of existing assumptions and expectations embedded within the draft and actual models of algorithmic accountability in different countries, (2) the extent to which these countries follow and learn from each other, and (3) in what ways the political, cultural, and economic interests shape the similarities and differences across these case countries.
Biography
Burcu Baykurt is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the critical study of technology and culture and their role in the reproduction of social inequalities.
