“Data Nerds is a Data Science meetup that meets both weekly and monthly. Our weekly meetings involve working on data science related projects. For more information about these weekly meetups, please reach out to one of our meetup organizers.

This meetup’s topic is Expanding Abstraction in Data Science: A Sociotechnical Perspective

Data scientists are increasingly called upon to account for the broader impacts of their work, through developing ethical standards, creating consensus around the concepts of fairness and bias, and other means. Theories of sociotechnical systems, which seek to organize and explain the ways in which technologies interact with society, can help data scientists develop more interdisciplinary perspectives and build practical frameworks to tackle these complex concepts. We will discuss theories of sociotechnical systems, the ways in which data science can create systemic impacts, and how we can integrate these concepts into our work.

V Thompkins is a Policy & Data Specialist at the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI). At CJI, he is committed to developing creative, data-driven solutions to issues in the criminal justice system, and to improving the management, analysis, and transparency of government data. In addition, he is passionate about the study and implementation of ethics in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the development of data science tools and techniques that promote justice and equity.”