On the 12th of April, ALGEPI organised its first workshop “Defining the Framework for Epistemic Welfare” at KU Leuven. The event brought together all consortium meeting partners, as well as a diverse group of participants, including researchers, practitioners, and industry experts, to engage in lively discussions and collaborative sessions.
Throughout the workshop, attendees had the opportunity to delve into the concept of Epistemic Welfare and the reasons why we need this concept through different perspectives. During the first part of the workshop, Emine Ozge, Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for IT and IP Law (KULeuven), Heritiana Ranaivoson, Research Professor at imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Hilde van den Bulck, Full Professor at the Antwerp Media in Society Centre (AMSoC), and Raphaël Tuor, Senior Researcher at the Human-IST Institute, presented the first research results of the project.
Emine Ozge explained what Epistemic Welfare as it encompasses the essential conditions and abilities required for both individuals and groups to exercise their epistemic agency which involves ensuring equitable access to knowledge and providing tools that facilitate the creation and engagement with information. Besides that, Heritiana Ranaivoson gave an overview of the different metrics, mesures and methods to assess diversity and argued that this framework is to be followed by research into audience consumption which would reveal the effects of algorithms and recommender systems on audiences’ exposure diversity. Likewise, considering that Epistemic Welfare includes, among other values, the notion of trust, Hilde van den Bulck, highlighted that given that trust is relational (a relationship between the news recommender system and the user), contextual and determined by characteristics of both parties, it cannot simply be assessed by analyzing the characteristics of the trustee, i.e. the news recommender system as such. Lastly, Raphaël Tuor, described what eXplainable AI entails and affirmed that the shift of responsibilities and agency among actors should highlight the need to make algorithmic gatekeepers and their developers accountable and to develop new regulations in priority, considering human values, and the needs of every actor involved, including journalistic, social, and legal domains.
During the second part of the workshop, Prof. Trisha Meyer, Director of the Research Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation at the Brussels School of Governance (BSOG), brought the regulatory perspective to the table unpacking the concept of transparency in political advertising and linked it to the European Union’s AI Act and political advertising regulation. Furthermore, Prof. Jo Pierson, Full Professor of Responsible Digitalisation, explained his ongoing work and put emphasis on the concept of trust in digital platforms and what the consequences for Epistemic Welfare are as well as user (dis)empowerment and public values. Prof. Leen d’Haenens, Full Professor at the Institute for Media Studies (IMS) at KULeuven, focused on youth, media and empowerment highlighting the main concerns and opportunities and the relevance of digital literacy. She affirmed that journalism cultivates a shared reality, thus, prioritising what matters for a functioning democracy. Lastly, Dr. Robin De Croon, Research Manager on Intelligent User Interfaces at the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Unit at KULeuven underscored the need for eXplainable AI and illustrated the way recommenders work and how these should involve users in the design process.
Overall, the workshop provided a platform for insightful dialogue and knowledge sharing and fostered a sense of community and collaboration among participants.
