Computer Says Maybe

Exhibit X: The Community

Aug 23, 2024

Elizabeth Eagen, Deputy Director of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University, discusses the role of social scientists in legal contexts. She addresses the challenges they face in conveying research uncertainty and the need for collaboration with lawyers. The conversation explores the ethical implications of AI technologies, the requirement for transparency in tech regulation, and the importance of effective government communication. Eagen emphasizes how technology impacts society and highlights the urgency for legislative responses as tech evolves.

47:02

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Elizabeth Eagen

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Quick takeaways

Expert witnesses from social sciences face challenges in aligning certainty with legal expectations, impacting their contributions in court.

Access to data and the need for ethical standards are crucial for researchers to effectively address technology's societal implications.

Deep dives

The Need for Collaborative Understanding in Legal Contexts

Researchers can play a vital role as expert witnesses in court cases, contributing insights from social sciences. However, this collaboration often faces challenges due to the differing expectations of lawyers and researchers regarding certainty in findings. Lawyers typically seek definitive conclusions to present to the court, while researchers may express doubt based on the complexities of their data. This misalignment necessitates a more effective synchronization between social scientists and legal professionals to ensure that expert testimonies are both scientifically sound and legally compelling.

Intro

5min

Navigating Research in a Social Media Landscape

14min

Navigating Nostalgia and Policy Challenges in the Gaming Community

2min

Navigating Research Collaboration and AI Ethics

18min

Enhancing Government Communication Through Existing Platforms

2min

Collaboration and Transparency in Tech Regulation

6min

What makes an expert witness? How does a socio-technical researcher become one? Now that we’re the end of this miniseries, we might finally be ready to answer these questions…

In the fifth instalment of Exhibit X, civic tech acrobat Elizabeth Eagen shares her pithy insights on how researchers of emerging technologies are starting to interface with litigators and regulators.

The questions we explore this week:

When do the expertise of social scientists become ‘good’ enough to stand up in court — and who gets to decide that?
How can the traditionally glacial system of courts and legislators keep pace with the shifting whims of technology companies?
Litigators want social scientists to get on the stand and say ‘X caused Y’ without a shadow of a doubt — but what social scientist would do that?

Elizabeth Eagen is Deputy Director of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University, which works with communities to study the effects of technology on society and test ideas for changing digital spaces to better serve the public interest. She was a 2022-23 Practitioner Fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University, and serves as a board member at a number of nonprofit technology organizations.

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Computer Says Maybe

Exhibit X: The Community

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Need for Collaborative Understanding in Legal Contexts

The Impact of Social Media on Research Reliability

Causality and Accountability in Legal Frameworks

Addressing Ethical and Infrastructural Challenges

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts