“Big Brother is Watching… So What?’’ took place in Dublin, Ireland and Valletta in Malta. Some really interesting and insightful conversations were had on the night.
Below we’ve made note of some of the points we heard during the discussions.
Measures that increase public safety are welcome, however research demonstrates that CCTV does not necessarily stop crime.
People have concerns about where these technologies might be heading in the future.
Laws would be needed to ensure a right to privacy (along the lines of the GDPR).
Cultural differences should be taken into consideration when approaching these types of technology.
Media literacy is becoming increasingly more important.
Questions were raised about:
how the data is collected and processed?
how do governments use this information?
Who controls it?
Whether facial recognition would indeed stop antisocial behaviour?
The scribe notes from the discussions will be analysed as part of the wider #DiscussAI Think-Ins project and the findings will be published after the project’s completion. You can read the report from the previous Think-Ins series here:
#DiscussAI Citizens' Think-Ins
Knowledge Sharing Forum
ADAPT will host a virtual knowledge-sharing forum online on 7 September from 10.30-11.45am. The event will explore the outcomes and insights generated by the 2021/2022 Citizens’ Think-In series.
At the event, we’ll hear from participating researchers and our community and evaluation partners.
We’ll share tips for hosting your own think-in in order to stimulate citizen-researcher conversations on STEM research and innovation. You’ll also find out how you can participate in our new Think-In series launching in late September 2022.
If you have any issues joining the Zoom call at 10.30, please email thinkins@adaptcentre.ie and someone will assist you.
About our speakers
Dr Patricia Scanlon is Ireland’s first AI Ambassador and is the founder and CEO of Soapbox Labs. As AI Ambassador, Patricia will lead a national conversation on the role of AI in our lives, its benefits, and how Irish enterprises can embrace AI-powered technologies. A key part of the ambassador’s role is to promote an ethical approach to AI that puts humans first.
Dr P.J. Wall is Research Fellow and Teaching Fellow with the School of Computer Science in Trinity College Dublin. His main research interests are AI ethics and the potential of advanced technology to reconfigure practice in healthcare and education. He is particularly interested in the social, cultural, and political aspects of the development, implementation and use of such technologies in low-resource contexts. His previous work has examined technological innovation in the Global South (Sierra Leone) with a focus on the use of mobile devices/apps, and the ethical implications associated with using such technology in this context.
Professor Eric Jensen is a social scientist with extensive methodological expertise in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods social research and evaluation. Jensen has been working in science communication research and practice since 2001.
Robert Joyce is a blogger (www.A30MinuteLife.com) where he shares how he lives with chronic illness (multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, asthma & sarcoidosis). Since starting his blog, he has become active as a Patient Advocate, advising public and private organisations on how to include the patient and public in their activities. He has also been an Embedded Patient Researcher on the award winning COB-MS (www.cob-ms.com) feasibility trial, a new cognitive therapy for people living with MS.
Professor Mark Little is a clinician scientist with an interest in translational immunology as applied to autoimmune disease. He links a cellular immunology lab in Trinity Translational Medicine Institute to the Chronic Disease Informatics Group in the ADAPT Centre with the goal of creating deep phenotyping platforms and predictive analytic tools to improve patient care.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has moved from the realm of science fiction to the everyday over the last few decades. There is no doubt that AI has many benefits in the 21st century. It helps us to choose which film or TV show to watch next (Netflix) and helps us navigate places we’ve never been (Google Maps). AI technology can also be used by doctors to help diagnose medical conditions.
But AI can also be a cause for concern and it presents unique ethical and societal challenges, such as bias in algorithms or the growing use of technology for surveillance.
This year, we want to hear your thoughts on the subject! We are hoping to meet a wide variety of people, groups and communities throughout 2022 to chat about your lived experience of AI and what you would like to see for the future of AI?
Join us at one of our workshops this February to explore what AI means to us and its impact on society. The workshops will bring together collaborators from a wide range of backgrounds to explore the question: “What impact does Artificial Intelligence have on me and my life?” Together, we will define the concepts and themes we wish to explore in 2022.
As always, you don’t need any specific AI or technology expertise to take part in the workshop. Participants in the workshop will receive a €25 voucher for their time. If you need more information, please email emma.clarke@adaptcentre.ie.
About the workshop
The workshop will bring together participants from a wide range of backgrounds including: community group members, members of the public with a curiosity about Artificial Intelligence, researchers, business and industry partners and policymakers. We will focus on one key question: “What impact does Artificial Intelligence (AI) have on me and my life?”
You might be asking yourself: “how does AI actually impact me?” Take a look at the “Typical Night Out” scenario below for some of the ways we encounter AI every day.
You’re meeting some friends for dinner. As you’re getting ready your doorbell camera alerts you there’s someone outside. That can’t be your friend already can it!? You check the image before answering the door, realising it is your friend and you’re officially late. Checking the commute time with Alexa, you both decide to walk to the restaurant. Once there you have a great time chatting and catching up. Obligatory selfies are taken and filters added. Once the photos are approved and everyone’s tagged (even the restaurant), the images are shared between friends and on Instagram At the end of the night you use your bank’s app to split the bill. While you’re on your phone, you open Freenow to order a taxi home.
What could possibly be the risk in such a lovely evening? Really the only detail people can see is the restaurant name. You didn’t give away any personal data, did you? Are you 100% sure that was the only time your location was shared? Do you know you also gave access to your full photo collection on your phone, and every location you’d been to in the last 48 hours, oh and also the locations you spent money? Who now has access to all this data, and what are they likely to do with it?
Before the workshop
After you sign up, you will receive an email with more information.
Before the workshop itself, we will send a short activity to get you thinking about the impact AI has on you. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to work on it in advance, we’ll cover it in the workshop too.
During the workshop
You will have the opportunity to share your thoughts about AI and help shape the direction of ADAPT’s public AI discussions for this year. All opinions are welcome.
Please check back – we’ll be adding the agenda here once it’s finalised.
After the workshop
After both idea generation workshops are completed, we will examine what we have heard and define three topics or subject areas related to AI that we will explore in 2022. We will be setting up small groups to collaborate on each of the topic areas.
We will be running a series of co-creation workshops to develop discussion scenarios in March / April. For more info, click here. If you would like to be involved further, please contact emma.clarke@adaptcentre.ie.
ADAPT & the RoomReader project invite you to a Citizens’ Think-In to discuss how Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used in online classrooms to improve the experience on
During the pandemic, many schools and universities were forced to quickly move all their teaching online. Classrooms became virtual. Every teacher and student required a camera, a microphone, and a computer to join their classes through apps like Zoom.
It became very difficult for teachers to tell if their students were engaged as many decided to keep their cameras and microphones turned off. But what if there was a new AI feature on Zoom that could help teachers to “read a room”….
RoomReader is an SFI Covid Rapid Response project led by Naomi Harte, Associate Professor in the School of Engineering in Trinity College Dublin, and Benjamin Cowan, Assistant Professor at University College Dublin’s School of Information & Communication Studies, exploring ways and implications of using AI to identify student engagement during online classes. This type of technology could help teachers respond to their students, but just because we CAN do something, does it mean we SHOULD?
The Think-In will take place online on 30 November 2021 from 4.00 – 5.45pm and is open to anyone with an interest in education – whether you’re a college student or lecturer, a secondary school teacher or a parent of a student who spent a significant amount of time at school online during the pandemic. We want to hear your thoughts! Sign up here: https://bit.ly/RoomReaderThinkIn
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 11, 1986
Event outline:
Join our experts for a quick conversation on what the future of virtual classrooms could look like
Then participate in a break out discussion, where you can share your opinion on the future of AI and teaching
What will I do during the Think-In?
During the Think-In, you will have the chance to listen to experts on the topic and will then be invited to join small discussion groups. You don’t need to have any expertise in the area – we will provide all the information you need and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone.
Join the conversation on the impact of technology and AI on society and on our lives.
On 11 November 2021, ADAPT will host an interactive Think-In to explore how we might balance the benefits of AI with the loss of control of our personal information
Join us in Athlone, Cork, Dublin, Maynooth or online!
We’re
all being tracked, all the time. We give away huge amounts of our
personal information daily. This might sound like a science-fiction
story, but it is in fact the world we live in. Invisible codes, huge
amounts of data and AI drives our daily exchanges and influence the way
we live our lives. Companies track us through our mobile phones and the
devices, websites and apps we use as we navigate both the online and
offline worlds. As a result, we leave a trail of personal information
behind. This information is then bought and sold by others. But does
sharing these little pieces of information really matter? Our phones and
the apps we use do make our lives easier… so what if we share a few
random bits about our lives, right?
The event
Join us during Science Week for an
interactive event to explore the information we give to apps and home
assistant devices and if the help and services they give us in return is
worth it.
Where does the information go?
How do organisations make money from our data?
What harm can sharing really do?
At
the event, you’ll learn about AI and understand how we’re sharing
personal information continuously (often without knowing). You’ll take
part in a fun discussion on how we might balance the benefits of AI with
the loss of control of our personal information. If you’re attending
one of our discussion hubs in person, you’ll even have the opportunity
to try out some cutting-edge technology from the world-leading ADAPT
research centre for AI.
But, how does this affect me?
Consider this…
You’re meeting some friends for dinner. As you’re getting ready your doorbell camera alerts you there’s someone outside. That can’t be your friend already can it!? You check the image before answering the door, realising it is your friend and you’re officially late. Checking the commute time with Alexa, you both decide to walk to the restaurant. Once there you have a great time chatting and catching up. Obligatory selfies are taken and filters added. Once the photos are approved and everyone’s tagged (even the restaurant), the images are shared between friends and on a variety of online platforms. At the end of the night you use your bank’s app to split the bill. While you’re on your phone, you order a taxi home. What could possibly be the risk in such a lovely evening? Really the only detail people can see is the restaurant name. You didn’t give away any personal data, did you? Are you 100% sure that was the only time your location was shared? Do you know you also gave access to your full photo collection on your phone, and every location you’d been to in the last 48 hours, oh and also the locations you spent money? Who now has access to all this data, and what are they likely to do with it?
Great ideas come out of great conversations. This #DiscussAI event is organised by ADAPT and is part of Science Foundation Ireland’s Creating Our Future initiative, an opportunity for everyone in Ireland to give ideas on how to make our country better for everyone.
You will be able to join the event in-person at our Hubs in Athlone, Cork, Dublin and Maynooth or online.
ADAPT and Smart D8 invite you to a public conversation, a Citizens’ Think-In to discuss “What is My Health Information?” with guest speaker, Orla Gogarty from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Dublin 8.
ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins are public forums that bring people together to discuss some of the ethical issues we face in the digital age. Members of the public have an opportunity to interact with researchers at the cutting-edge of AI research and development. The Citizens’ Think-In project has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
The Think-In will explore questions like:
What does Health Information look like in the 21st Century and why is it important to us as citizens?
How can digital technologies empower us to manage our health and reorient our health services to be more inclusive, people-centred and efficient?
The Think-In will be a hybrid discussion event. It will take place online on 7 October 2021 from 6.00 – 7.45pm. There are also a number of tickets to attend the event in-person at the Guinness Enterprise Centre, Dublin 8. You will have the option to attend online or in-person at the booking page.
You don’t need to have any previous knowledge of AI – we will provide all of the information you need.
All necessary precautions will be taken to ensure the in-person event is safe (limited numbers, masks, social distancing, well-ventilated space, hand sanitiser etc.)
We now have numerous personal devices which can record our fitness and wellbeing from our heartbeat to our sleep patterns. As a result of this technology, we can take more control over our own health management. But should this information stored on our devices be part of our health record?
To explore this, ADAPT & Smart D8 invite the public to join the conversation on: ‘What is my health information?’
The topic will be introduced by Orla Gogarty, Director of Digital Health, Transformation and Partnerships at St Patricks Mental Health Services (SPMHS). Orla’s talk will explore:
What does Health Information look like in the 21st Century and why is it important to us as citizens?
How can digital technologies empower us to manage our health and reorient our health services to be more inclusive, people-centred and efficient?
The Think-In will be a hybrid event. You will have the option to attend online or in-person at the booking page.
It will take place online on 7 October 2021 from 6.00 – 7.30pm .
There will also be a number of tickets to attend the event in-person at the Guinness Enterprise Centre. We ask guests attending the event at the Guinness Enterprise Centre to arrive from 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start. There will be light refreshments on arrival.
Small-group discussion of scenarios, focusing on which information in your health record belongs to you and how the information is created and accessed
During the Think-In, you will be invited to join small discussion groups. You don’t need to have any expertise the area – we will provide all the information you need and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone.
Speaker Bio
Orla Gogarty is Director of Digital Health, Transformation and Partnerships at St Patricks Mental Health Services (SPMHS) with executive responsibility for data protection. Orla has over 35 years’ experience in healthcare as a senior executive, programme manager, academic and clinician in the UK, Canada and Ireland and across the public and private sectors. She has successfully delivered numerous complex strategic transformational programmes in Healthcare including leading the digital transformation programme at SPMHS over a five-year period. This included the implementation of Ireland’s first electronic health record (EHR) in 2017, an integrated Patient Billing System in 2019, the introduction of proven video technology at scale in March 2020 to support SPMHS’s seamless transition to virtual mental health service model necessitated by Covid and finally the rapid deployment of Ireland’s first integrated Patient Portal in June 2020 to provide services users with access to their mental health information. SPMHS’s uses a collaborative approach to the design of its digital health solutions working with cross functional teams and joint service user and clinical advisories to ensure the highest security, privacy and transparency standards for service users’ information.
About St Patrick’s Mental Health Services
St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) has a vision for a society where all citizens are empowered and given the opportunity to live mentally healthy lives. St Patrick’s works to provide the highest quality mental healthcare, to promote mental wellbeing and mental health awareness, and to advocate for the rights of those experiencing mental health difficulties: https://www.stpatricks.ie/
About Smart D8
Smart D8 is an initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens through collaboration and innovation: www.smartd8.ie
If you have any additional requirements, please contact thinkins@adaptcentre.ie and we’ll do what we can to accommodate you.
You’re invited to a free online Citizens’ Think-In on the topic of privacy & Smart Devices like Alexa/Siri, smartphones & doorbell cameras on 23 September from 17.00 – 18.30.
How do you feel about your phone interacting with your TV, doorbell & even your fridge, toaster & kettle? Are you concerned about privacy risks or do you think the benefits outweigh any risks?
Join a public discussion to consider whether the convenience of having a smart home outweighs privacy concerns.
ADAPT researchers will guide Think-In participants through real life examples of smart home technology like doorbell cameras and smart speakers as we explore the myriad benefits of smart home devices, as well as how things can go wrong….
ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins are open to everyone and no previous knowledge is required. We will provide all the information you need to participate fully in the discussion. All opinions are welcome and valid.
Event outline:
Short presentation to introduce the topic
Small-group discussion of scenarios, focusing on smart home technology and devices – which data belongs to you and who is it shared with?
Each group reports back with thoughts
Whole group reflection and deliberation
What will I do during the Think-In?
During the Think-In, you will be invited to join small discussion groups. You don’t need to have any expertise the area – we will provide all the information you need and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone.
Why should I take part?
One of our previous Think-In participants may have put it best: “your opinion is your opinion, and we need every opinion to get good reliable information” Your participation has the potential to shape the future of AI research.
ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins are public forums that bring people together to discuss some of the ethical issues we face in the digital age. Members of the public have an opportunity to interact with researchers at the cutting-edge of AI research and development. The Citizens’ Think-In project has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
ADAPT & Smart D8 welcome you to an online Citizens’ Think-In to discuss “What is My Health Information?” **POSTPONED**
ADAPT, the SFI research centre for AI-Driven Content Technology and Smart D8 invite you to an online public conversation, a Citizens’ Think-In to discuss “What is My Health Information?” with guest speaker, Orla Gogarty from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services.
This event is postponed until October 2021. To be first to hear about the new date, sign up to our mailing list.
We now have numerous personal devices which can record our fitness and wellbeing from our heartbeat to our sleep patterns. With this technology, we can take more control over our own health management. As a result, the concept of health information is evolving.
To explore this, ADAPT & Smart D8 invite the public to join a conversation on: ‘What is my health information?’
The topic will be introduced by Orla Gogarty, Director of Digital Health, Transformation and Partnerships at St Patricks Mental Health Services (SPMHS). Orla’s talk will explore:
What does Health Information look like in the 21st Century and why is it important to us as citizens?
How can digital technologies empower us to manage our health and reorient our health services to be more inclusive, people-centred and efficient?
During the event, you will be asked to consider questions like:
Have you ever considered which information in your health record belongs to you?
Should data collected on smart devices such as phone apps and wearable technologies, be part of my health information?
The Think-In takes place online on 7 July 2021 from 4.00 – 5.45pm
Event outline:
Short presentation to introduce the topic
Small-group discussion of scenarios, focusing on which information in your health record belongs to you and how the information is created and accessed
Each group reports back with thoughts
Whole group reflection and deliberation
What will I do during the Think-In?
During the Think-In, you will be invited to join Zoom breakout groups. You don’t need to have any expertise the area – we will provide all the information you need and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone.
Speaker Bio
Orla Gogarty is Director of Digital Health, Transformation and Partnerships at St Patricks Mental Health Services (SPMHS) with executive responsibility for data protection. Orla has over 35 years’ experience in healthcare as a senior executive, programme manager, academic and clinician in the UK, Canada and Ireland and across the public and private sectors. She has successfully delivered numerous complex strategic transformational programmes in Healthcare including leading the digital transformation programme at SPMHS over a five-year period. This included the implementation of Ireland’s first electronic health record (EHR) in 2017, an integrated Patient Billing System in 2019, the introduction of proven video technology at scale in March 2020 to support SPMHS’s seamless transition to virtual mental health service model necessitated by Covid and finally the rapid deployment of Ireland’s first integrated Patient Portal in June 2020 to provide services users with access to their mental health information.
About
ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins are public forums that bring people together to discuss some of the ethical issues we face in the digital age. Members of the public have an opportunity to interact with researchers at the cutting-edge of AI research and development. The Citizens’ Think-In project has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
Smart D8
Smart D8 is an initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of citizens through collaboration and innovation: www.smartd8.ie
St Patrick’s Mental Health Services
St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) has a vision for a society where all citizens are empowered and given the opportunity to live mentally healthy lives.
SPMHS uses a collaborative approach to the design of its digital health solutions working with cross functional teams and joint service user and clinical advisories to ensure the highest security, privacy and transparency standards for service users’ information. https://www.stpatricks.ie/
Researchers from the Science Foundation Ireland ADAPT Centre for AI driven digital content technology and the PROTECT Network invite you to join a Citizens’ Think-In public discussion to consider the question: “Who Should I Trust With My Data?”
More than ever, our lives are becoming more digital. As we move from app to app and website to website, we leave increasingly large data trails online. Companies want us to sign in to their services to collect and process our data, but people rarely have the time, or the information, to understand the full implications of these terms, conditions and privacy notices.
The EU Commission is proposing a Data Governance Act that aims to improve trust between people who share their data and the organisations who then control our data.
The Data Governance Act would allow for the creation of data cooperatives who can then represent individuals before BigTech companies and other organisations. So now is a good time to ask: ‘Who should I trust with my data?’
About the Citizens’ Think-In
The Think-In on 9 June will have the following format:
You will be introduced to the topic by Trinity College Dublin’s Professor Dave Lewis.
You will then be invited to join a breakout session to share your opinions in small group discussions. These sessions will be facilitated by experts whose research includes data privacy and trust.
After the break out sessions, the whole group will come back to the main room to share their opinions and ideas.
You don’t need to have any expertise in the area – all necessary details will be provided and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone. The public opinions gathered during the Think-In will play an important role in shaping future ADAPT research into data ethics and trust.
A former participant at one of ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins said “It definitely got people from the public and researchers chatting. [The event] promoted awareness and understanding, and gave participants an opportunity to have a say”
This event is part of a series of ADAPT Citizens’ Think-Ins on the ethical issues we face in the digital age. The next Citizens’ Think-In will see ADAPT partner with Smart D8 and St James’ Hospital on 7 July 2021 to hold a public discussion focusing on the question “What is My Health Information?”
The Citizens Think-In series is funded by the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Call.
The PROTECT ITN has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 813497.
ADAPT, the SFI research centre for AI-Driven Content Technology is hosting an online public conversation Citizens’ Think-In to discuss Digital Health Information and we would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.
The Think-In takes place online on 4 March 2021 from 2.30 – 4.00pm
We now have numerous personal technical devices which can record everything from our heartbeat to our sleep patterns. As a result, the concept of health information is evolving. To explore this, ADAPT is inviting the public to join a conversation on: ‘What is my health information?’
During the event, you will be asked to consider questions like:
– Have you ever considered which information in your health record belongs to you? – Should data collected on smart devices such as phone apps and wearable technologies, be considered health information?
Event outline:
Short introductory presentation relating to Health Information & Digital Health Records by Dr. Derick Mitchell, CEO of the Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry (IPPOSI)
Small-group discussion of scenarios, focusing on which information in your health record belongs to you, how the information is accessed and
Each group reports back with thoughts
Whole group reflection and deliberation
During the Think-In, you will be invited to join Zoom breakout groups. You don’t need to have any previous knowledge of the area – we will provide all the information you need and we are interested in hearing opinions from everyone.
ADAPT’s Citizens’ Think-Ins are public forums that bring people together to discuss some of the ethical issues we face in the digital age. Members of the public have an opportunity to interact with researchers at the cutting-edge of AI research and development. The Citizens’ Think-In project has been funded by Science Foundation Ireland.
To familiarise yourself with the ADAPT Citizens’ Think-In project, please watch this short introductory video:
