The lecture series will be held digitally until further notice. A Zoom-link for the lecture will be made available in advance via the SFB mailing list. Guests are welcome to register via Mail with Damaris Lehmann Send an email
Five years ago, not much ‘bottom up’ empirical research into people’s thoughts, feelings and experiences of datafication had been undertaken. But a lot has changed in a short time, and recent years have seen a proliferation of surveys, polls and qualitative research about such matters. Drawing on a comprehensive review of academic and grey literature on this topic, I will comment on some emergent themes and identify future directions for research in this area. These include: the affective dimensions of living data; whether more trust in datafication should be the goal; ideas about fairness; the importance of social inequalities and their absence in much of this research; and how the way that research is undertaken shapes what is found.
Helen Kennedy is Professor of Digital Society at the University of Sheffield. Over 20+ years, she has researched how digital developments are experienced by ‘ordinary people’ and how these experiences can inform the work of digital media practitioners. She is currently researching the datafication of everyday life. She is interested in perceptions of and feelings about data mining and related issues like trust, inequality and what good data practice might look like. She is also interested in the role of everyday visual representations of data and whether they can mobilise people to act.
Recent Publications:
- Public perceptions of good data management: findings from a UK-based survey, Big Data and Society (June 2020, w/Todd Hartman, Robin Steedman & Rhia Jones)
- Public Understanding and Perceptions of Data Practices: a review of existing research (May 2020, w/ Susan Oman, Mark Taylor, Jo Bates & Robin Steedman)
- Data Visualization in Society (April 2020, ed w/ Martin Engebretesen, Open Access with Amsterdam University Press)
- Complex Ecologies of Trust in Data Practices and Data-Driven Systems, Information, Communication & Society (May 2020, w/ Robin Steedman & Rhianne Jones)
- Approaching public perceptions of datafication through the lens of inequality: a case study in public service media, Information, Communication & Society (March 2020, w/Robin Steedman & Rhianne Jones)