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How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms

Overview of attention for article published in Big Data & Society, January 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • One of the highest-scoring outputs from this source (#2 of 976)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (96th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
70 news outlets
blogs
8 blogs
policy
16 policy sources
twitter
128 X users
patent
2 patents
facebook
2 Facebook pages
wikipedia
6 Wikipedia pages
googleplus
1 Google+ user
reddit
2 Redditors
bluesky
6 Bluesky users
podcasts
2 podcasts

Readers on

mendeley
2851 Mendeley
citeulike
1 CiteULike
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Article details
Title
How the machine ‘thinks’: Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms
Published in
Big Data & Society, January 2016
DOI 10.1177/2053951715622512
Authors

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Timeline Attention over time Attention Score history
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Activity
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X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 128 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley demographics

Mendeley demographics

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 2,851 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
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Geographical breakdown

Geographical breakdown
Country Count As %
United Kingdom 4 <1%
United States 3 <1%
Netherlands 2 <1%
Poland 1 <1%
Norway 1 <1%
Ireland 1 <1%
Hong Kong 1 <1%
Ghana 1 <1%
Spain 1 <1%
Other 2 <1%
Unknown 2834 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status
Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 354 12%
Student > Master 344 12%
Student > Bachelor 222 8%
Researcher 197 7%
Student > Doctoral Student 106 4%
Other 403 14%
Unknown 1225 43%
Readers by discipline
Readers by discipline Count As %
Social Sciences 408 14%
Computer Science 358 13%
Business, Management and Accounting 233 8%
Arts and Humanities 108 4%
Engineering 99 3%
Other 350 12%
Unknown 1295 45%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 752. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 November 2026.
All research outputs
#33,414
of 34,844,563 outputs
Outputs from Big Data & Society
#2
of 976 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#374
of 450,622 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Big Data & Society
#1
of 30 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,844,563 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 976 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 31.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 450,622 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 30 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.