Rene Kizilcec
The rising prevalence of algorithmic interfaces, such as cu- rated feeds in online news, raises new questions for designers, scholars, and critics of media. This work focuses on how trans- parent design of algorithmic interfaces can promote awareness and foster trust. A two-stage process of how transparency affects trust was hypothesized drawing on theories of infor- mation processing and procedural justice. In an online field experiment, three levels of system transparency were tested in the high-stakes context of peer assessment. Individuals whose expectations were violated (by receiving a lower grade than expected) trusted the system less, unless the grading algorithm was made more transparent through explanation. However, providing too much information eroded this trust. Attitudes of individuals whose expectations were met did not vary with transparency. Results are discussed in terms of a dual process model of attitude change and the depth of justification of per- ceived inconsistency. Designing for trust requires balanced interface transparency—not too little and not too much. ACM Classification Keywords H.5.2. Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g. HCI): User Interfaces; K.3.1. Computers and Education: Computer Uses in Education. Author Keywords Interface Design; Algorithm Awareness; Attitude Change; Transparency; Trust; Peer Assessment.