REIMAGINE ADM research consortium studies how public values intertwine with algorithmic systems and futures. The novelty of the project lies in mobilising anthropological and sociological perspectives to examine how values are deployed in situated practices rather than in the abstract. We develop methods and comprehensive frameworks for exploring values in socio-technical systems, and study cases ranging from insurance, healthcare and energy to border control and activism. By focusing on people who build, promote and evaluate algorithmic systems, we examine alignments and tensions that reveal how values, including efficiency, autonomy, solidarity and openness, are prioritised, negotiated and contested.
The research process is arranged into three collaboratories – cases, methods and alternatives. With the term collaboratory, a neologism combining laboratory and collaboration, we emphasise the experimental and participatory nature of our work, which includes ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.
The research cuts across three themes:
- we bridge and compare values in empirical cases;
- challenge and operationalise them in action;
- rethink and reimagine algorithmic futures.
By combining empirically informed and imaginative ways of addressing values, our work promotes societally sensitive understandings of algorithmic systems and futures.
The project brings together established research groups from the University of Helsinki, University of Southern Denmark, University of Ljubljana, Linköping University and KU Leuven.
KEYWORDS:
value, automated decision-making, algorithmic systems, empirical cases, digital methods, imaginary
CONSORTIUM
- Project Leader: Minna Ruckenstein, University of Helsinki, Consumer Society Research Centre, Finland
- Dorthe Kristensen, University of Southern Denmark, Marketing and management, Denmark
- Rajko Mursic, University of Ljubljana, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Arts, Slovenia, e-mail
- Ine Van Hoyweghen, KU Leuven, Centre for Sociological Research, Belgium
- Julia Velkova, Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies – Technology and Social Change, Sweden, e-mail
COOPERATION PARTERS
- Joonas Aitonurmi, Digital and population data services agency
- Hans Nylén, STUNS Energy
- Carl Brandt, Liva Health
- Maja Cimerman, Danes je nov dan
- Ole Graumann, Odense University Hospital
- Minna Mustakallio, Un/Know
- Riitta Nieminen-Sundell, Lunden Architecture Company
- Bulent Ozel, Lucid Minds
- Alex Parsons, My Society
- Valentina Rajaković, Radio Študent
- Antti Rannisto, Solita
- Heli Rantavuo, Spotify
- Viivi Lähteenoja, My Data Global
- Matthias Spielkamp, AlgorithmWatch
ACHIEVEMENTS
Publications:
Lehtiniemi T., Contextual social valences for artificial intelligence: anticipation that matters in social work, Information, Communication & Society, 2023, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2234987
Ruckenstein M., The Feel of Algorithms, University of California Press, 2023
Parks L. & de Ridder S., Velkova J., Media Backends, Digital Infrastructures & Sociotechnical Relations, Illinois University Press, 2023, https://books.google.fi/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NvjiEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA33&dq=related:sIhDfzyzPuQJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=oSw8t7dtBC&sig=24wkUvNOMUuzw98gtnFxKUauVnQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Moats D., Pretnar Žagar A., Perspectives on AI in the British and Slovenian parliament, Digital Parliamentary Data in Action, 2024
Eidenskog M., Réka A., Beyond barriers – exploring resistance towards BIM through a knowledge infrastructure framework, Construction Management and Economics, 2023, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01446193.2023.2218498
Velkova J., Kaun A., Beyond Academic Publics: Conversations about Scholarly Collaborations with Cultural Institutions, Linköping University Press, 2024
Moats D., Yu-Shan T., Sorting a public? Using quali-quantitative methods to interrogate the role of algorithms in digital democracy platforms, Information, Communication & Society, 2023, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2230286
Velkova J., Powering Computers, Dismantling Public Values: The Energy Politics of Computation Work in Sweden, The Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, Selected Papers in Internet Research, 2024
Velkova J., Retrofitting and ruining: Bunkered data centers in and out of time, New Media & Society, 2023, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221149946
Velkova J., Vicki Mayer, This site is a dead end? Employment uncertainties and labor in data centers, The Information Society, 2023, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01972243.2023.2169974#2b85d6ca-6520-4a3d-8e4a-aa9f2ee3f33d-b6de7b7c-de82-45a5-9538-313dd15c6659
Velkova J., Jean-Christophe Plantin, Data centers and the infrastructural temporalities of digital media: An introduction, New Media & Society, 2023, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221149945
Velkova J., Data Infrastructures and their Temporalities, Sage Handbook of Data and Society; Sage Publication, 2024
Velkova J., Ortar N., Taylor A.R.E., Brodie P., Johnson A., Marquet C., Pollio A. & Cirolia L., Powering ‘Smart’ Futures: Data Centres and the Energy Politics of Digitalisation., Energy Futures: Anthropocene Challenges, Emerging Technologies and Everyday Life, De Gruyter, 2022
Velkova J., Mayer V., Placemaking, Infrastructuring & Curating: Social Mapping of Media Infrastructure Regions, Media Backends: Digital Infrastructures and Sociotechnical Relations, University of Illinois Press, 2023
Pretnar Žagar A. ,Making sense of sensors, An anthropology of futures and technologies, Taylor & Francis, Routledge, 2022
Mursic R., Pretnar Žagar A., Đukić N., Document enrichment as a tool for automated interview coding, Conference on Language Technologies and Digital Humanities, 2022
Kristensen D., Bode M., From techno-utopianism to personal panopticon and beyond: A call for a revised self-tracking research agenda, The Routledge handbook of digital consumption, 2022
Kristensen D., Kuruoglu, A. P. & Banke, S., Trajectories, Traces and Tensions: Making and Navigating algorithmic worlds, Conference proceeding to ICR conference, Malaga, 2024
Kristensen D., Tanninen M., Bode M., Bastien Presset & Federico Garcia Baena, Techno Utopia and Digital Inequalities: The Case of Self-tracking, Conference proceeding, Consumer Culture Theory conference, 2023
Kristensen D., Møhl P., Harbsmeier M., Henriques P., Gudrun Jensen T., and Sjørslev I., Myter: En introduction, Tidsskriftet Antropologi, 2024, https://tidsskrift.dk/tidsskriftetantropologi/article/view/141359/185181
Kristensen D., Møhl P., Henriette, L., Svendsen M.N. & Høyer K., Medical Anthropology, Tidsskriftet Antropologi, 2023
Start date
1 October 2022
Project duration
36 months
Project budget
€ 1 130 589
Funding organisations
