Algorithms are increasingly invoked as powerful entities that control, govern, sort, regulate, and shape everything from financial trades to news media. Nevertheless, the nature and implications of such orderings are far from clear. What exactly is it that algorithms “govern”? What is the role attributed to “algorithms” in these arguments? Can we turn the “problem of algorithms” into an object of productive inquiry?

This conference sets out to explore the recent rise of algorithms as an object of interest in scholarship, policy, and practice beyond computer science. Taking a fresh view on the current wave of interest in this topic, we aim to discuss themes such as:

• the very idea of “algorithms” as a subject and object of analysis
• issues of methodology and the kind of knowledge claims that come with algorithms
• the rhetoric of problems and solutions, success and failure
• questions of agency, accountability, and automation
• secrecy, obscurity, inscrutability
• rules, regulations, resistance

09:00 – 09:30 am | Welcome and Introduction

Helen Nissenbaum
New York University

Malte Ziewitz
New York University

09:30 – 10:45 am | Session 1

The Relevance of Algorithms

Tarleton Gillespie
Cornell University

Discussants:

• Kate Crawford, Microsoft Research/University of New South Wales
• Martha Poon, London School of Economics and Political Science

Moderator: Heather Patterson, New York University

10:45 – 11:00 am | Break

11:00 – 12:15 pm | Session 2

The Emperor’s New Codes: Reputation and Search Algorithms in the Finance Sector

Frank Pasquale
Seton Hall Law

Discussants:

• Moritz Hardt, IBM Research Almaden
• Tal Zarsky, University of Haifa

Moderator: Katherine Strandburg, New York University Law School

12:30 – 1:30 pm | Lunch break

1:30 – 2:45 pm | Session 3

Algorithms, Performativity and Governability

Lucas Introna
Lancaster University Management School

Discussants:

• Lisa Gitelman, New York University
• Matthew Jones, Columbia University

Moderator: Solon Barocas, New York University

2:45 – 3:00 pm | Break

3:00 – 4:15 pm | Session 4

Bearing Accountable Witness to the Ethical Algorithm

Daniel Neyland
Goldsmiths, University of London

Discussants

• Mike Ananny, University of Southern California
• Karrie Karahalios, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Moderator: Phoebe Sengers, Cornell University

4:15 – 5:30 pm | Closing panel

Evgeny Morozov
Author of The Net Delusion and To Save Everything, Click Here

Paul Dourish
UC Irvine

Moderator: Sophie Hood, New York University

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