astronomy

Marina Jirotka

Marina Jirotka is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marina Jirotka rather than just read about it. In short: Marina Denise Anne Jirotka is professor of human-centered computing at the University of Oxford, director of the Responsible Technology Institute, governing body fellow at St Cross College, board member of the Society for Computers and Law and a research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute. She leads a team that works on responsible innovation, in a range of ICT fields including robotics, AI, machine learning…

Key takeaways

Marina Jirotka belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marina Jirotka to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marina Jirotka from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marina Denise Anne Jirotka is professor of human-centered computing at the University of Oxford, director of the Responsible Technology Institute, governing body fellow at St Cross College, board member of the Society for Computers and Law and a research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute. She leads a team that works on responsible innovation, in a range of ICT fields including robotics, AI, machine learning, quantum computing, social media and the digital economy. She is known for her work with Alan Winfield on the 'Ethical Black Box'. A proposal that robots using AI should be fitted with a type of inflight recorder, similar to those used by aircraft, to track the decisions and actions of the AI when operating in an uncontrolled environment and to aid in post-accident investigations.

Education Jirotka obtained her BSc in psychology and social anthropology from Goldsmiths College in 1985 and her Master's in Computing and Artificial Intelligence from the University of South Bank in 1987. Her doctorate in Computer Science, An Investigation into Contextual Approaches to Requirements Capture, was completed at the University of Oxford in 2000.

Career In 1987 Jirotka was appointed research fellow in the University of Surrey Social and Computer Sciences Research Group. In 1991 she joined the University of Oxford as a senior researcher in the Department of Computer Science, becoming a university lecturer and governing body fellow of St Cross College in 2003. In 2008 she became reader in requirements engineering and was promoted to professor of human-centred computing in 2014.

Research Jirotka's most recent work centres around the 'ethical black box' - a way of making algorithmic decisions explainable after an unexpected event or accident. The model for this approach is the aviation industry that uses inflight recording systems to provide evidence after an accident. This approach to explainability in robotics is developed from Jirotka's earlier work on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), a research method supported by the EU's Horizon 2020 theme and the UK research councils, particularly the EPSRC. RRI includes the use of reflection, stakeholder involvement and anticipatory governance to try to ameliorate potential negative effects of research and development. It is considered to be particularly applicable in ICT disciplines where failing to consider possible negative outcomes can have serious repercussions. Jirotka contributed significantly to the evolution of RRI after her work on the Framework for Responsible Research and Innovation in ICT project (FRRIICT) that was adopted for rollout in the UK by EPSRC. Jirotka's other projects include:

UnBias and ReEnTrust - research projects that examine the way algorithms are used online. The projects seek to raise awareness of algorithmic bias and to find ways of reducing bias such that public trust in algorithmic calculations can be justified. RoboTIPS - a project in partnership with the Bristol Robotics Lab looking at how robots can be developed using the 'ethical black box' concept.

Expert opinion Jirotka has frequently given evidence to Select Committees, Advisory Boards, All-Party Parliamentary Groups and industry bodies. She sits on the Steering Committee of the APPG on Data Analytics and the Advisory Board of the Society for Computers and Law. She regularly appears on expert panels to discuss ethical approaches to innovation and is also an international speaker on the issues arising from a lack of diversity in science.

Novel contributions Along with members of her team, Jirotka formulated the concept of the Ethical Hackathon. This is a technique based on the traditional type of hackathon that additionally incorporates a focus on ethical issues such as assessing the work's impact on (for example) minority groups or vulnerable users. The concept was trialled during work on the UnBias project and has since been used in a Zimbabwe LabHack and in training doctoral students at Oxford.

Publications Winfield, Alan F. T.; Jirotka, Marina (15 October 2018). "Ethical governance is essential to building trust in robotics and artificial intelligence systems". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 376 (2133) 20180085. Bibcode:2018RSPTA.37680085W. doi:10.1098/rsta.2018.0085. PMC 6191667. PMID 30323000. De La Flor, Grace; Ojaghi, Mobin; Martínez, Ignacio Lamata; Jirotka, Marina; Williams, Martin S.; Blakeborough, Anthony (13 September 2010). "Reconfiguring practice: the interdependence of experimental procedure and computing infrastructure in distributed earthquake engineering". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 368 (1926): 4073–4088. Bibcode:2010RSPTA.368.4073D. doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0140. PMID 20679123. D'Agostino, Giuseppina; Hinds, Chris; Jirotka, Marina; Meyer, Charles; Piper, Tina; Rahman, Mustafizur; Vaver, David (June 2008). "On the importance of intellectual property rights for e-science and the integrated health record". Health Informatics Journal. 14 (2): 95–111. doi:10.1177/1081180X08089318. PMID 18477597. S2CID 7934521. Geddes, J; Mackay, C; Lloyd, S; Simpson, A; Power, D; Russell, D; Jirotka, M; Katzarova, M; Rossor, M; Fox, N; Fletcher, J; Hill, D; McLeish, K; Chen, Y; Hajnal, JV; Lawrie, S; Job, D; McIntosh, A; Wardlaw, J; Sandercock, P; Palmer, J; Perry, D; Procter, R; Ure, J; Hartswood, M; Slack, R; Voss, A; Ho, K; Bath, P; Clarke, W; Watson, G (2006). "Designing for e-Health: recurring scenarios in developing grid-based medical imaging systems". Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 120: 336–47. PMID 16823151. Welsh, E; Jirotka, M; Gavaghan, D (15 June 2006). "Post-genomic science: cross-disciplinary and large-scale collaborative research and its organizational and technological challenges for the scientific research process". Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences. 364 (1843): 1533–49. Bibcode:2006RSPTA.364.1533W. doi:10.1098/rsta.2006.1785. PMID 16766359. S2CID 22817487. Hartswood, M; Jirotka, M; Procter, R; Slack, R; Voss, A; Lloyd, S (2005). "Working IT out in e-Science: experiences of requirements capture in a HealthGrid project". Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 112: 198–209. PMID 15923729.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marina Jirotka

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marina Jirotka claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marina Jirotka before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marina Jirotka ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marina Jirotka

In research: Marina Jirotka appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marina Jirotka in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marina Jirotka is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Academics of the University of Oxford, Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London, Artificial intelligence ethicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marina Jirotka outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marina Jirotka in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marina Jirotka means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marina Jirotka out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marina Jirotka in simple terms?

Why does Marina Jirotka matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marina Jirotka?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marina Jirotka.