Table of Links
3. Theoretical Lenses
4. Applying the Theoretical Lenses and 4.1 Handoff Triggers: New tech, new threats, new hype
4.2. Handoff Components: Shifting experts, techniques, and data
4.3. Handoff Modes: Abstraction and constrained expertise
5. Uncovering the Stakes of the Handoff
5.1. Confidentiality is the tip of the iceberg
6.2 Lesson 2: Beware objects without experts
6.3 Lesson 3: Transparency and participation should center values and policy
8. Research Ethics and Social Impact
Acknowledgments and References
5.5 Participation
The Bureau’s process for engaging stakeholders around the 2020 Census included a number of innovations to support both democratic and technocratic elements of agency policy-making [90]. As outlined in §5.4, DP newly allowed transparency in the DAS, which in turn enabled a wider range of actors to be made aware of and participate in policy decisions embedded within the DAS.[6]
Increased technocratic participation became clear: during this shift, the Bureau brought in a range of experts and opened itself up to external expert review. These experts considered not only the technical details of DP and the DAS, but also provided input and review of the Bureau’s communications around the system.
More democratic participation was less clear. Such participation was mediated by Bureau’s choices about who constituted a relevant public and how to communicate with them. While the Census Scientific Advisory Committee’s DP working group applauded the Bureau for their efforts to include multiple perspectives, the committee also noted that it was difficult to assess what perspectives were not included and that many relevant stakeholders might not have the awareness, time, or energy to engage in policy decisions around the Census’s implementation of DP [20].
Authors:
(1) AMINA A. ABDU, University of Michigan, USA;
(2) LAUREN M. CHAMBERS, University of California, Berkeley, USA;
(3) DEIRDRE K. MULLIGAN, University of California, Berkeley, USA;
(4) ABIGAIL Z. JACOBS, University of Michigan, USA.
This paper is
[6] Stakeholders have participated in and influenced prior iterations of the DAS. For example, “data user dissatisfaction”led the Bureau to pursue alternative methods to table suppression in the wake of the 1970 and 1980 Censuses [85, 125, p. 4-6]. However the DAS’s reliance on “security by obscurity” meant that external stakeholders could not participate directly in many design decisions.
