Expert introduces the emerging science of human computation

Questions on the role and threats of human computation in applications of data science were discussed in a lecture organized on March 25, 2017 by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Birzeit University. The lecture was presented by the Professor at the Institute for Informatics at the University of Munich François Bry.

Bry said that during the 20th century iconic patterns of human collabration in the field of data science, information technology and communication. He explained that these collaborations are because human are now more reliable than ever on information and communication technologies and techniques .

These collaborations are characterized according to Bry with predefined human roles and little adaptable process. “Collaboration comes at the price of a restricted individual freedom,” Bry alluded.

Professor Bry pointed out the Human Computation coined for denoting the new forms of human collabration. Humans are becoming contributors to collaboration-enabling algorithms that can also control and restrict how collaboration takes place.

Talking about the challanges, Bry stated that many companies who used this modern technique affected the life of individuals and societies, such as Google, which faced a number of legal issues regarding the copy-rights of publishing and exchanging photos.

François Bry is a professor at the Institute for Informatics of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. He is currently investigating Human Computation and Technology Enhanced Learning.  Before joining University of Munich in 1994, he worked in industry in France and Germany, in particular with the research center ECRC in Munich.