Ontologies are used in a range of information systems and increasingly also to enhance data analytics. While algorithmic bias in data analytics is well-known, what bias means for ontologies that provide a structuring mechanism for, e.g., an algorithm’s or query’s input has not yet been investigated widely. What are the sources of bias there, and cognitive bias in particular, and how do they manifest in ontologies? Eight broad sources that can cause bias were assessed on if, where, and how that may affect an ontology’s content, illustrated with examples from ontologies and samples from the literature. This is augmented with 6 applicable recognised cognitive biases. We also examined three COVID-19 ontologies on modelling bias, which  also assisted in assessing where any bias in an ontology likely will have the biggest impact during deployment of ontologies. This first characterisation aims contribute to a sensitisation of bias in ontologies primarily regarding representation of the knowledge, and thus also indicates avenues for future work.

Short Bio of the Speaker:
Maria Keet (PhD, MSc, MA, BSc(hons)) is an Associate Professor with the Department of Computer Science, University of Cape Town. She focuses on logic-based knowledge representation, ontologies, conceptual data modelling, and their interaction with natural language tools, which has resulted in around 150 publications at venues including KR, FOIS, K-CAP, EKAW, ESWC, ER, CIKM, Applied Ontology, Data and Knowledge Engineering, and the Semantic Web Journal. She is, and was, PI on two NRF-funded projects on NLG with ontologies, and was PI on an DST/MINCyT-funded bi-lateral project with Argentina on ontology-driven conceptual modelling, and she was involved in the EU FET FP6 TONES, FP7 Net2 and e-Lico projects. She has served in many Program Committees and reviewed for numerous journals; recently she has been a PC chair for, among others, the ISWC 2022 Resources Track, IJCAI 2021 Demos, and EKAW 2020. She also wrote an award-winning textbook on ontology engineering.
Before her employment at UCT, Maria was Senior lecturer at the School of Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and before that, a non-tenured Assistant Professor at the KRDB Research Centre, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. She obtained a PhD in Computer Science at the KRDB Research Centre in 2008.  
Website: http://www.meteck.org/

Host:
Prof. Dr. Birte Glimm

Date and Time:
Feb 23rd, 2022, 5pm, via Zoom