[Air-L] CfA: Panel Session "The politics of algorithmic governance. Data subjects and social ordering in the digital age" (18th Annual STS Conference in Graz, 6-7 May 2019)

[Florian Irgmaier]

Dear Colleagues,

we would like to call your attention to a panel session about the 
politics of algorithmic governance at next year's Annual STS Conference 
in Graz. The conference takes place on the 6th and the 7th of May 2019. 
The deadline for the abstracts is 21.01.2019.

A key aspect of the ongoing digital transformation of society is the 
increasing datafication and quantification of almost all aspects of 
life. This realm of “data doubles” gives rise to new modes of producing 
and validating knowledge and of establishing epistemic and thus 
political authority, enabled by artificially intelligent computer 
systems and machines learning from big datasets. As a consequence, we 
are witnessing the emergence of new forms of social coordination, 
steering and control that are unfolding on the individual level (as in 
the quantified self movement), on the organizational level (as in people 
analytics) as well as on the societal level (as in predictive policing 
and citizen scores). While technology enthusiasts interpret these trends 
as an opportunity for more reactive, more integrated and less 
bureaucratic forms of regulation that will ultimately benefit everyone 
(O’Reilly 2013), critics warn that humans are reduced to passive data 
providers in a new, depoliticized “surveillance capitalism” (Morozov 
2014, Zuboff 2018). As the fusion of digital technology and institutions 
of public and private governance proceeds, gaining a deeper 
understanding of these ambivalences is one of the pressing academic and 
practical issues of our time (Yeung 2017).
During this session we want to continue the conversation about the 
possible contributions of Science, Technology and Society Studies to 
this set of questions, debating both concrete empirical cases and 
broader theoretical considerations. We invite innovative papers from all 
relevant areas that address issues including, but not limited to, the 
following:

     Which new forms of algorithmic governance do we observe?

     How do they relate to and interact with existing forms of social 
ordering and what sets them apart?

     Do we witness the emergence of new forms of subjectivities and 
identities?

     In what ways do algorithmic systems foster or inhibit individuals’ 
conduct of everyday life, and how are they integrated into daily routines?

     Do we witness the rise of new types of socio-technical networks and 
assemblages?

     When do the new infrastructures of algorithmic governance fail and 
which vulnerabilities are responsible for the failures?

     In what ways do individuals and groups apply, cope with, adapt to, 
subvert or re-purpose systems of algorithmic governance?

     How can we think about these changes in ways that take seriously 
both the material specificity and the social logics of these new 
technologies?

     What are the socio-technical imaginaries that give rise to the 
various forms of algorithmic governance?

     What is the relationship between data, algorithms and agency, and 
what do these forms of algorithmic governance imply for individual and 
collective self-determination?

     What are the conditions for the legitimacy of algorithmic 
governance in the 21st century?

     How can algorithmic governance itself be governed?


Important information

Deadline 21.01.2019 16:00
Confirmation of abstracts: February 2019
Information und submission: 
https://sts-conference.isds.tugraz.at/event/5/abstracts/

We are looking forward to your abstracts!

With kind regards,
Florian Eyert, Florian Irgmaier und Rainer Rehak

-- 
Florian Irgmaier
Research fellow

Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung(WZB)/
WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Weizenbaum-Institut für die vernetzte Gesellschaft. Das Deutsche
Internet-Institut/
Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society. The
German Internet Institute

Reichpietschufer 50
10785 Berlin / Germany

Office: +49-(0)30-700-141-077
Email: florian.irgmaier at wzb.eu