PhD Student at Western University

PhD student & Research Assistant //
Science & Technology Studies, Critical Data Studies, Human-Computer Interaction //

Pınar
Barlas

Doctoral student at Western University’s Library & Information Science PhD Program (expected May 2027), under the supervision of Dr. Luke Stark. I am focusing on the data cleaning practices in the industry, and how some of these practices are taught (or not) at the undergraduate level. I will be conducting ethnographic studies at a university class as well as a team of developers in the industry.

I’m passionate about the intersection of social justice and technology, examining the impact of high-tech ‘solutions’ on individual lives as well as the broader society. I have an undergraduate degree in cultural studies & communication, supported by a graduate degree in human-computer interaction design and practical experience designing demonstration systems.

My work and interests are highly interdisciplinary, spanning: data ethics; critical computing; algorithmic fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE/FAccT); science, technology & society studies (STSS); human-computer interaction (HCI).

Get my CV //
Explore my publications on Google Scholar //
Watch some of my 5-minute conference presentations //
Watch a 30-minute summary of my dissertation research topic (for non-academics).

 

Latest news

September 2024:

I attended the Data Power Conference in Graz, Austria (including the Doctoral Colloquium).

August 2024:

I was accepted to the Doctoral Colloquium of the AAAI/ACM AIES Conference in October 2024.

June 2024:
I attended the ACM FAccT Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (including the Doctoral Colloquium).
I gave a guest lecture on Image Tagging Algorithms for the “Information Retrieval: Research and Practice” graduate-level course at Western University.

May 2024:
I attended the Summer School in Responsible AI & Human Rights, run by Mila and the Université de Montréal.
I started working with Prof. Joanna Redden as a Research Associate after wrapping up my position with Dr. Luke Stark for the moment.
I gave a guest lecture (“The Ethics of Data Cleaning” - in English) during I Colóquio Internacional Mídias e Tecnologias: Impactos no Contemporâneo, organized by the research group Círculo de Estudos em Comunicação e Cultura Visual at the The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.

Selected Publications

Person, Human, Neither: The Dehumanization Potential of Automated Image Tagging

by Pınar Barlas, Kyriakos Kyriakou, Styliani Kleanthous, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES), 2021.

PDF // Poster // ACM digital library // 5-minute presentation

Shifting Our Awareness, Taking Back Tags: Temporal Changes in Computer Vision Services’ Social Behaviors

by Pınar Barlas, Maximilian Krahn, Styliani Kleanthous, Kyriakos Kyriakou, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Proceedings of the 16th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM), 2022.

PDF // AAAI digital library // 5-minute presentation

Perception of Fairness in Algorithmic Decisions: Future Developers' Perspective

by Styliani Kleanthous, Maria Kasinidou, Pınar Barlas, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Patterns, 2021.

Journal library (open access)

“It’s About Time": A View of Crowdsourced Data Before and During the Pandemic

by Evgenia Christoforou, Pınar Barlas, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2021.

PDF // ACM digital library

“I agree with the decision, but they didn’t deserve this”; Future Developers’ Perception of Fairness in Algorithmic Decisions

by Maria Kasinidou, Styliani Kleanthous, Pınar Barlas, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT), 2021.

PDF // ACM digital library // Summary on Twitter

To "See" is to Stereotype: Image Tagging Algorithms, Gender Recognition, and the Accuracy-Fairness Trade-off

by Pınar Barlas, Kyriakos Kyriakou, Olivia Guest, Styliani Kleanthous, and Jahna Otterbacher. In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (PACM HCI 4, CSCW3, Article 232), 2020.

PDF // ACM digital library // 5-minute presentation // Summary on Twitter

 
 

Education

PhD. Library & Information Sciences

Western University (London, ON, Canada)
Current (since Fall 2022)


M.A. Interaction Design

Harbour.Space University (Barcelona, Spain)
2016 - 2017


B.A. Cultural Studies & Communication

Clark University (Worcester, MA, USA)
2012 - 2016

Recent Employment

Research Assistant

Under the supervision of Prof. Joanna Redden at Western University
Current (since Fall 2022) — previously with Dr. Luke Stark


Teaching Assistant

In the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University
Current (since Fall 2022)


Research Associate

fAIre Multidisciplinary Research Group at CYENS
2018 - 2022

Selected Awards & Grants

Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS)

Province of Ontario & Western University, 2024


Nominated for Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship

Government of Canada, 2024


Catherine Sheldrick Ross Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship

Western University, 2022


Island-Wide Perspective & Reach Research & Innovation Grant (CyCLOPS Project)

CYENS Centre of Excellence, 2022


Fulbright Cyprus-America Scholarship (CASP)

Cyprus Fulbright Commission, 2011