Category: show in team updates

Gabriella (Biella) Coleman visits DATACTIVE

We are delighted to have Biella paying DATACTIVE a visit march 28th in the afternoon for an informal meetup.

bio

Gabriella (Biella) Coleman holds the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University. Trained as an anthropologist, her scholarship explores the intersection of the cultures of hacking and politics, with a focus on the sociopolitical implications of the free software movement and the digital protest ensemble Anonymous.

She has authored two books, Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking (Princeton University Press, 2012) and Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous (Verso, 2014), which was named to Kirkus Reviews’Best Books of 2014 and was awarded the Diana Forsythe Prize by the American Anthropological Association. Her work has been featured in numerous scholarly journals and edited volumes. Committed to public ethnography, she routinely presents her work to diverse audiences, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and has written for popular media outlets, including the New York Times, Slate, Wired, MIT Technology Review, Huffington Post, and the Atlantic. She sits on the board of Equalitie, The Tor Project, and the Social Science Advisory Board of the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

Stefania at Movies that Matter Festival, 25 March

Stefania Milan joins Kees Verhoeven (MP, D66) and Doutje Lettinga (Amnesty International) to comment on digital rights and cybersecurity. The Q&A session follows the screening of Black Code, premiering in the Netherlands as part of the Movies that Matter Film Festival in The Hague (March 25th at 14.15). Black Code is a documentary movie by Nicholas De Pencier, inspired to the book of the same title by Ronald Deibert (Citizen Lab). Read more (in Dutch).

Featured

DATACTIVE featured as success story at ERC 10th anniversary

We are very proud to share that DATACTIVE is featured in the ERC 10th anniversary celebrations as one of the success stories!

The European Research Council turns ten this year. The anniversary program ‘Beyond the first ten years‘, scheduled for March 21st in Brussels, highlights the key achievements and some among the successful ERC funded projects, while setting the stage for the coming years. During this event, Stefania Milan (DATACTIVE PI) will talk about ‘data politics at the grassroots’ in the section ‘ERC development’ stories. She will also participate in the evening talk show ‘Beyond the first 10 years’, discussing ideas for ameliorating ERC funding schemes. On March 20th she will participate in a dinner hosted by the ERC President to discuss with stakeholders how to ‘stimulate excellence’ and get more bottom-up research across the EU. You can find more about the celebration on the dedicated website. The program for March 21st will be live streamed.

The European Research Council (ERC) was set up by the EU in 2007 to fund excellent scientists and their most creative ideas. It supports cutting-edge research in all fields, and helps Europe keep and attract the best researchers of any nationality. Today, the ERC is a key component of Horizon 2020, the EU’s programme for Research and Innovation. Check out the ERC achievements!

Interview with Stefania Milan on ‘Communicatie’ (in Dutch)

In a more personal interview in the Dutch Magazine Communicatie (check the online version), Stefania Milan explains her dedication to activism in relation to her academic endeavors. To give a glimpse of the content of the interview, these are the introductory paragraphs, for the full interview in Dutch, click here.

What has changed in activism through social media?

“I’m fascinated by the fact that activists does not always take shape in form of protest. It increasingly implies being present as a witness at the scene of the crime, and tweeting or reporting on Facebook. There is less fights and more individual stories. Older protest movements are used to be a more cohesive group with a strong leader. ”

Is that a good thing?

“It is good that you can start a movement with the internet giving it a more international scope. It is easier for a local malpractice can get worldwide attention. But with the large scale, involvement might be somewhat superficial. Would you put at risk for a stranger or fellow activist who is in prison on the other side of the world?”

Where does your social engagement come from?

“From my parents. They have a certain sensitivity to the people who are affected less. When I was two years old, they took me to the occupation of a chemical plant where working conditions were very poor. I grew up in a protected and white environment, but my gaze was directed outwards. I was aware of inequality and social injustice. ”

To read more in Dutch, click here.

DATACTIVE takes part in the launch of the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University

Stefania Milan will represent DATACTIVE in the launch of the Data Justice Lab at the Cardiff University on the 17th of March 2017. More info, and a profile of the lab below:

Our financial transactions, communications, movements, relationships, and interactions with government and corporations all increasingly generate data that are used to profile and sort groups and individuals. These processes can affect both individuals as well as entire communities that may be denied services and access to opportunities, or wrongfully targeted and exploited. In short, they impact on our ability to participate in society. The emergence of this data paradigm therefore introduces a particular set of power dynamics requiring investigation and critique.

The Data Justice Lab is a new space for research and collaboration at Cardiff University that has been established to examine the relationship between datafication and social justice. With this launch event, we ask: What does social justice mean in age of datafication? How are data-driven processes impacting on certain communities? In what way does big data change our understanding of governance and politics? And what can we do about it? The Lab seeks to advance a research agenda that examines the intricate relationship between datafication and social justice, highlighting the politics and impacts of data-driven processes and big data. The lab is directed by Dr Lina Dencik, Dr Arne Hintz, and Dr Joanna Redden.

Becky Kazansky at IFF

Becky Kazansky is currently attending the Internet Freedom Festival in Spain, The Global Unconference of the Internet Freedom Communities. One can follow her adventures on Twitter.

About the Internet Freedom Festival

Since its beginning as the Circumvention Tech Festival in 2015, the Internet Freedom Festival (IFF) has grown into one of the largest, most diverse and inclusive gatherings in the Internet Freedom community.

Challenges to digital rights and online freedom expression have increased in reach and complexity, and so have the communities of practice which have grown and organized to address them. As the evolving Internet Freedom space explores and defines an identity as a community, several realities have become clear:

1. Online threats to human rights and freedom of expression affect us all
These issues have grown in sophistication and scope, with more and more closing spaces for open discussion of these obstacles both online and offline.

2. Networks of practice who address these threats are stronger now than ever before
So is the need to bring these networks together to learn from each other’s experience, to organize collective efforts that are more inclusive and better coordinated.

3. Opportunities for participants to set the agenda are few and far between
More often than not, participants in Internet Freedom community events must find space within a ready-built agenda to have the conversations they want, and need, to have.

4. Diversity of voice is fundamental to the health of a community.
A community with a truly comprehensive grasp of the complex challenges it faces is
possible only through inclusion of all voices – especially those typically underrepresented.

Talk with Stefaan Verhulst @NYU (GovLab) in March

The 2nd of March, we will have the opportunity to meet with Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory. Verhulst’s latest scholarship centers on how technology can improve people’s lives and the creation of more effective and collaborative forms of governance. Discussion topics might include:

Data Responsibility: How data originally collected for private purposes was exchanged for public ends: an act of data responsibility.

Data Collaboratives: Data Collaboratives are a new form of collaboration, beyond the public-private partnership model, in which participants from different sectors — in particular companies -  exchange their data to create public value.

 

bio

Stefaan G. Verhulst is Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory @NYU (GovLab) where he is responsible for building a research foundation on how to transform governance using advances in science and technology. Specifically, he is interested in the perils and promise of collaborative technologies and how to harness the unprecedented volume of information to advance the public good.

Interview with Stefania Milan @CanalEuropa

Stefania Milan, PI of DATACTIVE, has been interviewed by Miren Gutiérrez as part of the Canal Europa live series. In this short lecture meeting, she introduces DATACTIVISM and the way in which research can question the role of big data in popular narratives. Originally aired February 7th, the entire interview can be watched on Canal Europa.

Canal Europa is proposed as an open space for the spreading of knowledge. A meeting point for artists, writers, scientists, and professionals in fields such as economy, medicine or political sciences, providing us with their knowledge, their reflections, the routes and the goals of their creativity.

Report: Contentious Data and the Politics of Big Data for Activism

We are very happy to announce that the report from our September ‘Contentious Data’ workshop is ready for publication and circulation. The report is included below or can be downloaded here. Text continues below the report.

With special thanks all speakers, including Sandra Braman (Texas A&M University), Alison Powell (London School of Economics), Hisham al-Miraat (Digital Rights Morocco), Linnet Taylor (Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society), Dorien Zandbergen (University of Amsterdam), Jaromil/Denis Rojo (dyne.org), Geert Lovink (Institute for Network Cultures), and Stefania Milan (DATACTIVE Principle Investigator).

 

DATACTIVE_report_Contentious_Data

 

Contentious Data brings together scholars and practitioners to explore the politics of big data from the perspective of activism and civil society.

Contentious Data is sponsored by the European Research Council (ERC), the Amsterdam Centre for Globalisation Studies (ACGS), the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis (ASCA), and the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR).