karen boyd

Education

Ph.D. University of Maryland, College Park. 2015-2020

Dissertation: Understanding and Intervening in Machine Learning Ethics: Supporting Ethical Sensitivity in Training Data Curation

M.B.A. Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego. 2009-2011

B.S. Business Administration, Marketing; San Diego State University. 2004-2009

Conferences

"Cupper and Leecher, tinman and Shrimp Fiend: Data Science Tools for Examining Historical Occupation Data." Presented at Code4Lib 2020

Co-Host of "Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines" Workshop at iConference, 2019.

Buntain, C., Golbeck, J., Auxier, B., Assefa, B.G., Boyd, K., Byers, K. M., . . . Workneh, F. (2019, March). Analyzing a Fake News Authorship Network. Poster presentation at iConference, 2019.

Boyd, K. (2017, February) "Visualizing Theory in Context to Aid Teaching, Learning, and Applying New Ideas." Workshop position paper for Theory Transfers? Social Theory and CSCW Research” Workshop at Computer Supported Cooperative Work Conference. [Paper, data, visualization available on github]

Boyd, K. (2017, May) "Adapting Diffusion of Innovations Theory to Opaque Algorithms." Workshop position paper for “User Perceptions and Experiences with Algorithms workshop at the International Conference on the Web and Social Media.

Boyd, K., Heidenblad, D. (2016, December) Building Humane Machines in the Face of Ethical Ambiguity and Interest Conflicts. Poster Presentation at the De Lange Conference X, "Humans, Machines, and the Future of Work."

Rule, A., Tabard, A., Boyd, K., & Hollan, J. (2015, July). Restoring the Context of Interrupted Work with Desktop Thumbnails. Paper presented at CogSci 2015: The Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Pasadena, CA: Cognitive Science Society.

Boyd, K., Rule, A., Tabard, A., & Hollan, J. (2016, February). Sharing, Human Values, and Computer Activity Tracking. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Companion (pp. 233-236). ACM.

Invited Talks

"Who is Responsible for User Privacy? Professional Discourse and Responsibility in Software Development" (2016, October). Center for the Advanced Studies of Communities and Information, Speaker Series.

Submitted Grants

Invited NSF AI EAGER "Finding practices that cultivate ethical development in ML and AI" with Dr. Adam Porter and Dr. Katie Shilton Not funded

University of Maryland, College Park School of Information. Research Improvement Grant Ethical Sensitivity in Training Data Curation Among Machine Learning Engineers" Funded

Research Interests

Values and Ethics in Software Design

Job Design, Organizational Structure, and Organizational Culture

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Research Skills

Data collection through human-subjects experiments; surveys (online and in-person); discourse analysis, individual structured and semi-structured interviews; usability testing; in-home prototype testing; focus groups; Internet, scholarly journal, and book review; individual interviews (semi-structured, user testing, speed dating, and more); organization inquiry; private database analysis; public and governmental agency information search

Data analysis using R, SPSS, Matlab, business and website analytic tools, Excel plug-ins, video and audio annotation tools, and a wide variety of specialized database software.

Presentation of findings and training material to a variety of audiences

Research Experience

University of Maryland, College Park. Ethics and Values in Design Lab, 2015 to present

Current Projects: Mobile Developer Privacy Practices Survey (data collection and analysis complete, paper in process); Machine Learning Engineering Ethics Dissertation (planning and grant applications); Theory-focused PhD course design

Developing research questions, hypotheses, research designs, and data analysis plans to better understand the privacy beliefs and practices of technology builders

Preparing IRB and grant applications

Designing and running descriptive and inferential statistical analysis in R

Data designing and creating data visualizations using specialized R packages, Neo4j + Linkurious, and D3

Designing and conducting qualitative inquiries using discourse analysis and interviews

Presenting findings to EViD Lab, the Center for the Advanced Study of Communities and Information, and other research communities

University of California, San Diego. Design Lab (formerly Distributed Cognition and Human-Computer Interaction Lab). Research Assistant, 2014 to 2016

Refining research questions, designing studies, and conducting investigations into values in design, interruption, memory, and mental context in knowledge workers

Open coding and content analysis

Writing and editing co-authored papers for peer review

Refining research questions and designing studies

Finding and summarizing peer-reviewed journal articles in areas of related work

Conducting research-related interviews and user tests with participants

Collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data (including interviews, videos, and eye-tracking data) in SQLite, Audacity, spreadsheets, and Chronoviz

University of California, San Diego. Clinical Psychiatry Lab. Research Assistant, 2012

Ran hundreds of hours of experiments, including extensive interaction with participants

Collected, scored, coded, and audited experimental data using SPSS

Completed CITI certification and other study-relevant training

Formatted scales, edited protocols, trained new research assistants, and briefed visiting scientists on study design and protocol

Teaching Experience

University of Maryland, College Park. College of of Information Studies. Instructor. 2020, College Park, MD

Teaching INST441, Information Policy and Ethics, online, asynchronous. Implementing approved course at UMD for the first time.

University of Maryland, College Park. College of of Information Studies. Co-Instructor. 2016 - 2017, College Park, MD

Co-taught "Information Organization" (Fall 2016), "Database Design and Modeling" (Spring 2017), and "Policy and Ethics in Digital Curation" (Fall 2018). These are an introductory undergraduate, an undergraduate upper division, and a graduate course, respectively.

Contributed to syllabus, lecture, assignment, and assessment design

Lectured on a variety of topics, including multi-table MySQL queries, machine learning for information classification, organizing system implementation, and information ethics

University of Maryland, College Park. Graduate School. Graduate Writing Fellow. 2016 - present, College Park, MD

Helping graduate students, including many English lanugage learners, in all departments with global and local writing improvements. Writing projects range from dissertations to resumes.

Assisting with workshops and talks to on-campus departments and conferences, including "Writing for General Audiences."

The Princeton Review. Teacher and Tutor. 2014 - present, La Jolla, CA

Building student confidence with tested material, comfort in test-taking environments, and mastery of test-specific strategies for SAT, ACT, GRE, MCAT CARS, and some AP tests

Improving student scores an average of 228 points (SAT) in classes of 5-20 students

Design, adapting, and implementing study plans for individual students from ages 16 - 40+

Invited Consortia, Fellowships, and Research Institutes

ACM FAccT (née FAT*) Doctoral Consortium Participant, 2020

Consortium for the Science of Sociotechnical Systems (CSST) Summer Research Institute Participant, 2019

LEADS-4-NDP Fellow 2018

University of Maryland, College Park Outstanding Graduate Assistant Awardee, 2018

ComSciCon Cornell Participant 2016

University of Maryland, College Park Dean's Fellowship Awardee 2015

Other Projects & Service

Reviewer, Computer Supported Cooperative Work Conference, 2017

Political Co-Chair, Human Rights Campaign San Diego Steering Committee 2018-2020

Junior Fellow, the Center for Advanced Studies of Communities and Information

Co-Chair, Rady School Ethics Committee 2011

Editor-in-Chief, Rady Business Journal 2010-2011

Web Marketing Director, California Clean Innovation (CACI) Conference

Board Member, Pan-American Missions, 2009-Present

Secretary of the Board, Chairman of PR/Marketing and Corporate Sponsorship Committees, Traveling Stories, 2010

Representative, UCSD Graduate Student Association 2009-2011