Big Data and the Power of Narrative
The Research Network for the Anthropology of Technology invites researchers to the seminar "Big Data and the Power of Narrative". The seminar will take place over two days on 21-22 March 2019 at the IT University of Copenhagen with keynote lectures as well as paper presentations.
The promise of big data is sweeping across the sciences, and the everyday practices that are the object of
anthropology are increasingly leaving data traces. Scholars talk about a 'datafication' of social life and see in the digitalization new ways of predicting behaviour and understanding sociality. A range of technologies are involved in the datafication of everyday life operating to a large extent through the internet of things, AI, the interconnected devices monitoring and regulating everything from our health to finances and reputation, to our energy use, transport, and the food chain infrastructures that sustain our lives.
How might we understand the implications of this datafication of everyday life?
How might we explore the emerging political and economic contours?
How does datafication influence what counts as true and worth knowing?
Can anthropology and adjacent fields have a special role in providing narratives about the things that escape datafication?
In this symposium we invite ethnographers to explore these questions and reflect on what ethnography stood to gain from embracing the data abundance and what big data analytics could learn from ethnography.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required, and availability is limited. Sign up at the Eventbrite.
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