Workshop: Case Study Analysis

Background

Seeing as how we are at the very beginning of the course, you are probably still struggling to understand what exactly we mean by “urban AI” and similar concepts.

During the introductory lecture, you were presented with a number of examples of the kinds of systems we are concerned with.

This exercise is aimed at analysing one case study so that you gain a better understanding not only of what we mean by urban AI, but also some of the technical and ethical issues involved, which you as a designer will need to grapple with throughout the rest of the course.

Learning Objectives

After completing this activity you will be able to analyse examples of urban AI, specifically as it relates to the technical and ethical concerns that are central to the field.

Instructions

• As a case study, we will be using the automated trash detection service proposed by the city of Amsterdam.
  • As a starting point, you can refer to the following Medium post: https://medium.com/maarten-sukel/garbage-object-detection-using-pytorch-and-yolov3-d6c4e0424a10
• Open up your team’s Miro board.
• Place the canvas attached to this module on your board.
• Fill out the canvas by discussing all the questions it contains and capturing your answers on notes. Place the notes on the appropriate areas in the canvas.
• Take a moment to reflect on the exercise. What did you learn? What are you still left wondering about?

Product

The outcome of this exercise is a completed canvas in Miro that captures your analysis of an example of urban AI on ethical and technical dimensions.

Follow-up

We will discuss your canvases, in particular the questions and issues you generated in the final step, during the plenary that follows this workshop.

Downloads

• Data ethics canvas (PDF)