Tackling Algorithmic Transparency in Communal Energy Accounting through Participatory Design
Florian Cech · 2021
Algorithmic transparency presents a significant challenge to system developers and users of algorithmic systems alike. Framing the problem as a ‘wicked’ one, this study tackles the issue of transparency in the EnerCoach energy accounting tool through presenting a situated ethnography of the algorithmic system and exploring the issues and challenges of model transparency and post-hoc explainability therein. By engaging stakeholders through participatory design methodologies, both a conceptual understanding of the problem and material solutions thereof are developed and evaluated. The findings show the promising potential of participatory design methodologies to elevate users to a ‘critical audience’, and the solutions co-created by the study participants for the challenge of algorithmic transparency. The results also highlight the complexity of the problem: transparency of algorithmic systems must be understood as a multi-facetted and highly contextual, ‘wicked’ problem that requires diverse methodological interventions to reach ‘satisficing’ solutions.