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CAREER: Accountable Democracy: Mathematical Reasoning and Democratic Processes in America

职业：负责任的民主：美国的数学推理和民主进程

基本信息

批准号：
2045854
负责人：
Alma Steingart
金额：
$ 54.9万
依托单位：
Columbia University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2021-03-01 至 2026-02-28
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045854&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
CAREER Accountable Democracy Mathematical Reasoning

项目摘要

In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that computational techniques are deeply embedded in every stage of the American democratic process. Prominent examples include computational redistricting and the increased use of statistical analysis in polling and forecasts. This project will historicize the role of computers, as well as algorithmic thinking and mathematical rationales, in the constitution of American representative democracy in the twentieth century. Even before digital computers and automated decision making became prevalent, controversies about mathematical definitions of “fairness,” “bias,” and “discrimination” abounded in American life, and nowhere were these ideas debated more forcefully than in the realm of democratic decision making. Focusing on congressional apportionment, the census, proportional voting, congressional redistricting, polling, and forecasts, this project investigates how changing computational practices, from statistical modeling to computational geometry, have insinuated themselves into the most basic definitions of “fairness” in the American electorate in the twentieth century. Applying theoretical insights from Science and Technology Studies, this project will integrate archival research and oral histories in order to investigate the extent to which ideas about what constitutes “bias,” “fairness,” and “discrimination” are determined by mathematical and computational metrics as well as by legal, legislative, and social ones. This research will therefore elucidate how technical and social definitions of fairness are entangled in computational and mathematical ways of thinking. Furthermore, it will reckon with the public understanding of science and, in particular, the public understanding of mathematics and statistics. Finally, it will extend the study of how scientific expertise is received and adjudicated when the expert’s skill is a method (e.g., statistics), rather than a subject matter (e.g., climate change, DNA fingerprinting). The project will increase public engagement with science and technology by unpacking and clearly outlining the ways in which mathematical and computational claims to knowledge have at times obscured political and social agendas. One of the primary goals of the project is to understand how mathematical claims to truth are adjudicated not only in the courts, but also by the general public. Some of the debates that will be examined, like the one regarding census adjustment, are highly technical in nature. Examining the successful (as well as unsuccessful) strategies that U.S. journalists and the public have developed to communicate and disseminate these complex issues is crucial to contemporary society, when so many aspects of daily life are governed by technically intricate, if not entirely opaque, computational systems. As data analytics become increasingly foundational to how Americans engage with the most basic constitution of democracy, it is of the utmost importance to publicly disseminate information and toolkits to help citizens evaluate such claims and their assumptions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

近年来，越来越明显的是，计算技术已深深嵌入美国民主进程的每个阶段。突出的例子包括计算重新划分以及在民意调查和预测中增加使用统计分析。该项目将历史化计算机以及算法思维和数学原理在二十世纪美国代议制民主宪法中的作用。甚至在数字计算机和自动决策盛行之前，关于“公平”、“偏见”和“歧视”的数学定义的争议就在美国人的生活中大量存在，而这些观点在民主决策领域的争论最为激烈。该项目重点关注国会分配、人口普查、比例投票、国会重新划分选区、民意调查和预测，研究从统计建模到计算几何的不断变化的计算实践如何渗透到二十世纪美国选民中“公平”的最基本定义中。该项目将运用科学技术研究的理论见解，整合档案研究和口述历史，以调查“偏见”、“公平”和“歧视”的构成观念在多大程度上是由数学和计算指标以及法律、立法和社会指标决定的。因此，这项研究将阐明公平的技术和社会定义如何与计算和数学思维方式纠缠在一起。此外，它将考虑公众对科学的理解，特别是公众对数学和统计学的理解。最后，它将扩展对当专家的技能是一种方法（例如统计）而不是主题（例如气候变化、DNA 指纹识别）时如何接受和裁决科学专业知识的研究。该项目将通过揭示和明确概述数学和计算知识主张有时模糊政治和社会议程的方式，增加公众对科学和技术的参与。该项目的主要目标之一是了解数学对真理的主张不仅在法庭上，而且还受到公众的裁决。将要审查的一些辩论，例如有关人口普查调整的辩论，本质上是高度技术性的。研究美国记者和公众为沟通和传播这些复杂问题而制定的成功（以及不成功）策略对于当代社会至关重要，因为日常生活的许多方面都受到技术复杂（如果不是完全不透明）的计算系统的控制。随着数据分析越来越成为美国人如何参与最基本的民主宪法的基础，公开传播信息和工具包以帮助公民评估此类主张及其假设变得至关重要。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。