Data activism – an agonistic approach (notes on Crooks & Currie 2021)

In a broad sense, data activism describes the process of groups that are traditionally marginalised and disadvantaged by dominant data … More

Queer data & queering data (notes on Ruberg & Ruelos 2020)

The idea of ‘queer data’ is one of a few emerging literatures that are deeply concerned with the harms that … More

Bringing critical sociology into ‘critical data studies’ (notes on Couldry 2020)

Nick Couldry (2020) raises the point that critical data studies is not as critical as it needs to be. Looking … More

Key concept: the ‘data assemblage’

A central concept within critical data studies is the idea of the ‘data assemblage’ – what Iliadis & Russo (2016, p.1) … More

What is Critical Data Studies?

Most contemporary social science accounts of digital data are located within what has become known as ‘Critical Data Studies’. As … More

What is ‘Design Justice’? Notes on Costanza-Chock (2020)

Introduction The idea of ‘design justice’ has become a regular feature of socially-minded discussions of technology development. In practical terms, … More

Data science as political action: notes on Ben Green (2018)

Despite being an inherently inter-disciplinary topic, discussions of digital data remain beset by disciplinary mis-apprehensions and suspicions. On one hand, … More

STS and the sociology of numbers

Since the 1970s, the interdisciplinary field of ‘science and technology studies’ (STS) has brought together a variety of critical academic … More

Logics of the data-driven school – control, care and/or empowerment

The first NOS-HS workshop on Nordic Perspectives on Algorithmic Systems resulted in a rich set of conceptual distinctions being drawn up around … More

The ‘aesthetic practices’ of data processing and presentation

An important element of the ‘use’ of data in schools are the various forms of data work behind the packaging, … More