Lecture on June 5th, 2019
People vs. Algorithms: Data Witchcraft and the Future of Data Activism
Professor Stefania Milan, University of Amsterdam
About the lecture
Increasingly transmuting into data human actions and interactions, datafication represents a fundamental paradigm shift for contemporary society. It is changing the role of information and technology in the constitution of the social, accelerating the crisis of liberal democracies. People may react by fencing off the aggressive intermediation of the industry, such as social media companies, and the snooping of the state. Others may leverage the novel possibilities for action harboured by big data and automation processes. This talk explores how citizens, social change activists, and variably skilled users engage with datafication looking at emerging practices of data activism as form of innovative ‘data witchcraft’ aimed at changing society and protecting privacy. It takes stock of the main tendencies we observe on the field, and surveys emerging areas such as algorithmic activism and device activism.
About the speaker
Stefania Milan (stefaniamilan.net) is Associate Professor of New Media at the University of Amsterdam. Her work explores the intersection of digital technology, governance and activism, with emphasis on critical data practices and autonomous infrastructure. Stefania is the Principal Investigator of the DATACTIVE project, funded with a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (639379) and exploring the evolution of citizenship and participation vis-à-vis datafication and surveillance (data-activism.net), and of the spin-off ALEX project (ERC Proof of Concept 825974). She is the author of Social Movements and Their Technologies: Wiring Social Change (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013/2016) and co-author of Media/Society (Sage, 2011).
photo: Chiara Milan
Wednesday, 5. June 2019, 18:15-19:45
Main Campus, West Wing, Room ESA J
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1
20146 Hamburg
poster lecture Prof. Stefania Milan [pdf]
programme "Taming the Machines" [pdf]
site plans:
lecture halls at Edmund-Siemers Allee 1: ESA1 [pdf]
University of Hamburg (Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 is number 12 in C3 of the map): UHH [pdf]