Lens 2 worksheet: representation and harm pathway

Stochastic Parrots and Beyond · Lens 2 worksheet

Follow a dataset or an image tool from its sources to its outputs. Mark who decides, what is selected and excluded, and which harm can enter.

Question: Whose perspectives become normal and whose are displaced?

Task (15 minutes, groups of three or four): Choose a system from a research-use description in your group. Use the LAION-5B pathway only if no description fits. For each step, note who decides, what is selected, what is excluded, and which harm can enter. Do not search for or open harmful images. See the Lens 2 page.

Pathway: ______________________________________________

Representation and harm pathway

Step	Who decides	What is selected	What is excluded	Which harm can enter
1 Sources
2 Selection or filter
3 Dataset
4 Scoring or curation
5 Model
6 Outputs and circulation

Findings for the plenary

Finding	Notes
The riskiest step for your research context
The people it affects
One mitigation that a researcher controls

Transfer to the shared fields

Carry your main finding over to the twelve shared fields. You use them again in the research-use clinic.

The twelve shared worksheet fields

Field	Notes
Research use
System or vendor
Evidence source
Lifecycle stage
People affected
Risk or benefit
Severity and uncertainty
Existing mitigation
Possible alternative
Disclosure requirement
Institutional owner
Next action

PDF · Word ·Original handout, CC BY 4.0 · Stochastic Parrots and Beyond, Laura Wagner and Moritz Mähr.