* exploring technology & analysing its discourses * Ass. Prof @utrechtuniversity * Vis. Prof. University of Helsinki * Science Lead at Utrecht Data School * EUropean * ENG+GER+NL *
#CriticalDataStudies #AIethics #DataEthics
| Website | https://dataschool.nl/en/ |
| https://twitter.com/mirkoschaefer | |
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtschaefer/ |
It has been often claimed that humanities & social sciences fall short in impactful research. At Utrecht Data School we do things differently! Our research approach is informed by close cooperation with external partners. It provides learning opportunities for students, responds to societal needs, delivers applicable results, and informs academic research. Here's an article on the opportunities and challenges of entrepreneurial research.
https://dataschool.nl/entrepreneurial-research (open access)
Quite proud that our book has been downloaded 25k times. But I'm more excited that it led us to exciting, inherently interdisciplinary and publicly engaged research.
It is open access, and available here: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31843
At Utrecht Data School, we often investigate political debates on social media. Last year, we reviewd these projects to understand better how "expertise" is constituted, projected and assigned across different platforms and topics. We identify new types of "experts" (at times unrelated to any specialized knowledge) and dynamics of assigning "expertise" based on ideological preferences.
Over the past years, Utrecht Data School has carried out several research projects where we were investigating communication patterns and fragmented audiences on social media. Examples for these projects are our inquiry into the Hydroxychloroquine debate, the media consumption choices of Dutch farmers, or debates on datacenters. In addition, we had worked with external partners who were interested in learning about the dynamic of fragmented audiences, knowledge dissemination, and their…
Both, our inquiry into AI & responsibility, and our use of digital methods & data analysis help us to develop a critical perspective on technology. What we call "tool criticism" is a thorough reflection (or Methodenkritik) of the epistemic impact of knowledge technology. Hence, how are our tools from excel over SPSS to research software informing our results?
Together w. @kfvanes & Maranke Wieringa I wrote the paper "Tool Criticism and the Computational Turn" OA:
We are very happy that our panel got accepted for #PrivacyCamp23 - "Contesting AI & data practices. Practical approaches to preserving public values in the datafied society" -
My colleague Iris Muis and I will speak with privacy lawyer @JBAGerritsen and IT ethicist @friesewoudloper about the application of impact assessments and audits, and about practical steps towards participatory ethics for the datafied society.
https://privacycamp.eu/2022/12/14/privacycamp23-registrations-now-open/
Registrations for #PrivacyCamp23 are now open! Sign up here by 18 January 2023 to secure your spot to EDRi’s flagship event, bringing together activists, academia and decision-makers around the topic of digital rights. After two years of virtual editions, Privacy … Continue reading →
