Measures of transparency are at risk of remaining empty signifiers if no critical and unbiased engagement emerges from their instalment. The key argument that this paper has thus developed is that uncoupling the value of transparency from the practical matter of how that transparency takes shape and how it is likely to be engaged with ultimately paints a limited picture. Measures toward algorithmic accountability are most effective if we consider them a property of socio-technical assemblages of people and machines. Within such assemblages, the value of transparency fundamentally depends on enlisting and maintaining critical and informed audiences.
Kemper, J., & Kolkman, D. (2018). Transparent to whom? No algorithmic accountability without a critical audience.
