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Purple Code – With Meera Ghani
No full textMeera Ghani is a human rights and climate activist from Pakistan, based in Belgium. In this episode we talk about many forms of violence against feminist, environmental and digital rights activists in Pakistan and in the West, which are often amplified by digital technologies. Meera shares with us her vision of a culture of care as an antidote to online and offline violence. Meera explains why it is important that organizations take measures that go beyond merely preserving the functioning of their members and employees; and that organizations instead should strive for care in a serious way. However, cultures of care demand transparency about power relations and a redistribution of power – which finds much resistance in practice, in Meera’s and our experience
Submission of Views on Issues for Further Consideration for Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Resources
Get PDFOpen and Responsible Data Governance is a promising concept to help operationalize the FAIR and CARE principles for DSI-specific data governance. While the CARE principles ensure indigenous data sovereignty is respected, the FAIR principles ensure that monetary benefits from the use of DSI are generated and form a part of resource mobilization for the conservation of biodiversity.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
‘I want to be able to do what I know the tools will allow us to do’: Practicing evaluative bibliometrics through digital infrastructure
Get PDFThe proliferation of quantitative research assessment has been accompanied by an increasing growth and diversification of digital infrastructure for evaluative bibliometrics. Since the beginning of the 2000s, insights into academic performance provided by a variety of new databases and devices significantly exceed the capacities of the former Science Citation Index and embedded metrics. Going beyond the research on the construction, uses, and consequences of bibliometric indicators, we therefore posit that a perspective on bibliometric infrastructure is crucial for understanding how evaluative bibliometrics is put into practice. Drawing on interviews with academic librarians on the increasing provision and implementation of bibliometric infrastructure in the years 2013 and 2014, we analyse how the entanglement of technology and its users shapes how evaluative bibliometrics is understood and practiced.This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We gratefully acknowledge funding received from the DZHW for publishing this article under an open access license
Drawing as a Facilitator of Critical Data Discourse: Reflecting on Problems with Digital Health Data Through Expressive Visualizations of the Unseen Body Landscape
Get PDFIn a 1.5-hour workshop, we used drawing and self-reflection prompts to facilitate a value-driven discussion of personal and institutional data practices. Activities included mark-making in time with one's heartbeat, creating an inventory of one's personal data, and creating a qualitative personal health visualization. This article details the workshop structure and exercises and includes a summary of the discussion, which constructively encompassed both the empowering and the uncomfortable aspects of digital health data collection in a constructive manner. The workshop's design used the format of hands-on, expressive drawing activities to enable participants to achieve depth and breadth in a relatively short discussion about personal health, data autonomy, institutional trust, and consent. Critical discourse about data, especially health data, is a valuable experience for every person whose health data has been or is being collected; and approaches that take personal data as a starting point can support the practice of digital/data sovereignty more broadly.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
Rethinking geographies of sovereignty: Towards a conceptual framework of situated sovereignty
Get PDFWe engage with debates on shifting geographies of sovereignty in the digital age by providing a conceptual framework for “situated sovereignty”. Our contribution draws on a review of the scholarly literature and current sovereignty practices. We aim to move beyond state-centred and territorial understandings of sovereignty. A common discussion is the necessity of reconfiguring notions of sovereignty.
However, hardly any studies have discussed the sociospatial configurations of practising sovereignty in the digital present. We conceptualise practices of sovereignty along intersecting strands of scholarly literature that have scarcely been related, drawing from political geography, science and technology studies, and critical digitalisation studies.
Reviewing the literature, we identify three fields framing current practices of sovereignty—(i) state and territory, (ii) civic engagement, and (iii) digitalisation—based on which we develop a conceptual framework of situated sovereignty. Our framework addresses the situated role of sovereignty practices from a spatial point of view. We propose pragmatism, legitimacy, and governance as three analytical themes for better understanding current and future shifting geographies of sovereignty and enhancing sovereignty studies.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEA
TechDo Digest 1x5: December 2023
No full textThe TechDo Digest is the literature overview of the research group "Technology, Power and Domination" at the Weizenbaum Institute. Every two to three months, the group curates a list of relevant new publications within their field, focussing on analyses of structures of power and domination in digitalized societies, changes to democratic processes, regulation of and through technology, and the contestation of digital technologies. This edition features articles that appeared between September and November 2023.The Weizenbaum Institute is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF
Weizenbaum Panel’s Literature Digest: April 2023
No full textDer Literatur Digest ist eine monatlich erscheinende Zusammenstellung des aktuellen Forschungsstandes zu Themen an der Schnittstelle zwischen Digitalisierung und Politik. Er präsentiert die neuesten Erkenntnisse zu Fragen der politischen Partizipation und guter Bürgerschaft in Zeiten der Digitalisierung.
Zusätzlich zum PDF bieten wir den Digest im BibTeX-Austauschformat an.The Literature Digest is a monthly compilation of the current state of research on topics at the nexus of digitalization and politics. It presents the latest findings on issues of political participation and good citizenship in times of digitalization.
In addition, we provide this Literature Digest as BibTeX file.This work has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII111, 16DII112, 16DII113, 16DII114, 16DII115, 16DII116, 16DII117 – „Deutsches Internet-Institut“
Bittersweet Symphony: Nostalgia and Melancholia in Music Reception
Get PDFListening to music can cause experiences of nostalgia and melancholia. Although both concepts are theoretically related, to date they have not been analyzed together regarding their emotional and cognitive profiles. In this study, we identify their theoretical underpinnings and determine how they can be measured empirically. We analyze how listening to music causes nostalgia and melancholia, and whether both experiences are related to different behavioral intentions. To this end, we conducted an online experiment with 359 participants who listened to music they considered either nostalgic, melancholic, or neutral. Afterward, participants answered 122 questionnaire items related to nostalgia and melancholia. Using Structural Equation Modeling, and more specifically Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes Modeling, we first developed two new scales: the Formative Nostalgia Scale and the Formative Melancholia Scale. Both scales consist of five items each. Results showed that listening to music indeed increased nostalgia and melancholia. Although considerably different, the concepts are related. Listening to nostalgic music increases melancholia, whereas listening to melancholic music does not increase nostalgia. Also, both experiences are related to different behavioral intentions. Whereas experiencing nostalgia was associated with a stronger intention to share the music and to listen to it again, experiencing melancholia revealed the exact opposite relation
Digital Volunteers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Care Work on Social Media for Socio-technical Resilience
Get PDFLike past crises, the COVID-19 pandemic has galvanized individual volunteers to contribute to the public response. This includes digital volunteers who have organized physical aid and conducted social media activities. Analyzing German volunteering support groups on Facebook and related Reddit threads in the context of COVID-19, we show what types of help are offered and how social media users interact with each other to cope with the situation. We reveal that most users offering help online mostly perform typical care work, such as buying groceries or giving advice. Crucially, volunteering is characterized by relationships of care. This means it builds on affirmative interactions. In spite of some misdirected offers and regressive interruptions, people use the possibility to make their voices heard and, showing empathy, help each other to live with the crisis. Social media like Facebook mediate societal structures, including relationships of care, offering a space for the continuous, cumulatively resilient conduct of care work. Reflecting on the traditional division of labor in crisis volunteering and counter-productive dynamics of care and empathy, we aim to articulate a feminist ethics of care that allows for interactions on social media that foster generative computer-supported collaboration.This publication has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) (grant no.: 16DII121, 16DII122, 16DII123, 16DII124, 16DII125, 16DII126, 16DII127, 16DII128 – “Deutsches Internet-Institut”)