Our Algorithms
Between exploration and experimentation, questioning the reasons for implementing a public algorithm, both today and in the future
Our Algorithms (Nos Algorithmes) is an experimental project co-led with Etalab – the public agency dedicated to improving public services through data – to explore the ethical challenges and opportunities of public algorithms, in light of both the present and the possible futures.
As algorithms proliferate within public administrations and local authorities – from tax calculations to nursery placements, and even the monitoring of social aid distribution – questions abound. Etalab gave us full freedom to explore questions that are both provocative and overlooked in current discussions: when should we implement or refrain from implementing a public algorithm? What are the alternatives to this digital approach? What unexpected consequences might arise from deploying such a system?
Our Algorithms aims to question the reasons and transformations that lead to the creation, removal, or redesign of a public algorithm. The project is structured around three key components:
- An investigation into the perceptions surrounding public algorithms, between myths and realities,
- A series of six design fiction scenarios exploring the future applications and implications of public algorithms,
- A playful toolkit for collectively discussing and assessing the impacts of public algorithms.
↑ A counterfactual history – or uchronia – co-designed during the imaginaries-scouting workshop, where participants took on the role of the project team tasked with reimagining the algorithm for evaluating British secondary school students during the Covid-19 period.
↑ The Humanity Tokens allow each citizen to control the balance between machine and human involvement in their administrative processes.
↑ Plurialgorithmics envisions a future where everyone can choose the algorithm that processes their administrative procedures, based on their community, profile, or even the discrimination they believe they face.
↑ Fail-soft mode in a degraded world presents digital public services with availability that has become intermittent due to climate and ecological crises.
↑ The Algora is a playful toolkit for collectively discussing and assessing the impacts of public algorithms, bringing together the perspectives of decision-makers, algorithm designers, and end-users – both public agents and citizens.
By diversifying formats and timelines, Our Algorithms seeks to be both a step aside and a leap forward. This approach sets aside concepts like user experience, agile development, and regulatory compliance, instead embracing imagination and speculation. This novel approach encourages the co-(de)construction of expectations around the digitalisation and automation of public services.
The perspectives explored by Our Algorithms do not represent a roadmap or a vision of a desired future. On the contrary, they serve as invitations to question what we should expect from public algorithms, both today and tomorrow. In this spirit, all resources have been made freely accessible on the project’s website, allowing user associations and collectives of public agents to appropriate the scenarios and tools, thereby supporting their reflections towards high-quality digital public services.
