Data-driven algorithms drive decision-making in ways that touch our economic, social and civic lives. But they contain inherent biases and assumptions that are too often invisible to the public.
Want to know how your salary jar stacks up?
Money jars via www.shutterstock.com
A legal wall protects private prisons from operational scrutiny.
Information commissioner John McMillan (pictured right with then minister Brendan O'Connor) has not been replaced since resigning in June, nor has the FOI commissioner who left in January.
AAP/Alan Porritt
It’s a problem when much of what winds up in scientific journals isn’t replicable, for various reasons. The research community is taking baby steps toward addressing the “reproducibility crisis.”
The haste to deregulate political finance has led to political participation in the US becoming highly unequal.
Reuters/Jason Reed
The role of money in politics challenges rich and poor countries worldwide. Its abuse raises problems of graft, corruption and cronyism, undermining legitimacy and governance.
Trying to find out how money is being spent in your area? It’s not always that easy.
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A Deal or No Deal-inspired experiment shows people act with excessive caution when they’re in the limelight.
Tony Abbott opens the campaign office for Liberal candidate Ken Wyatt in 2010. Now he and all incumbent MPs enjoy a $300,000 advantage over their challengers at the next election.
AAP/Dean Lewins
‘Better Communities’ funding is supposedly non-partisan: every electorate gets $300,000 for local projects. But only incumbent MPs have a say in this spending and 60% of them are government members.
Notions of the ‘right to know’ forced Hillary Clinton to defend her use of a private email account as secretary of state - a far cry from the days when citizens didn’t even know how their representatives voted.
EPA/Andrew Gombert
The idea of the right to know as the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ is a surprisingly modern development. And in an age when transparency is prized, privacy and secrecy can still be justified in many cases.
Governments produce enormous amounts of data. The open data movement wants to make that available to all citizens.
r2hox/Flickr
The open data movement is gaining momentum but we need to reflect on our priorities and values in order to make further progress.
Australian producers are struggling to face challenges imposed by a changing screen industry – and greater transparency will benefit everyone.
AAP Image/Gaye Gerard
David Court, Australian Film, Television and Radio School and Andrea Buck, Australian Film, Television and Radio School
There is an emerging push for greater transparency in the industry about how films are funded and the profits they return. But can sharing information can help a financially risky industry into the black?
John Howard sealed his fate by going too far with WorkChoices, but he got the balance right and succeeded with the GST reform.
AAP/Andrew Brownbill
The distinction between the global and the local is collapsing under the pressure of climate change, economic restructuring, global migration and jihadism on the one hand and the populist and information…