[Air-L] (un)making data PhD course, 2-days in Aarhus March 28-29

[Annette Markham]

Dear AoIR Colleagues,

We've just finalized plans for a 2-day PhD course in Aarhus, March 28-29,
2019, related to epistemologies around data(fication), ethics, embodiment,
with a special focus on autoethnography as a strong method. Join us! Share
this announcement!

*(Un)making data: *
*Exploring (auto)ethnographic epistemologies and *
*‘what counts?’ as relevant knowledge in a datafied era*

A 2-day PhD Workshop, March 28-29, 2019
Aarhus University, Denmark
No fee for participants, coffee and lunches provided
*Travel or lodging not provided*
15 seats available
Register by March 15, 2019

Taught by: Professor Annette Markham and special Guest Professor Laura
Ellingson, author of *Engaging* C*rystallization as Qualitative Method,
Voicing Survivorship, Embodiment in Qualitative Research  *

Details below! Contact amarkham at cc.au.dk if you have questions.

Please share the detailed information below if you know others who might be
interested....and as always, apologies for cross posting .....

Best Regards and Cheers from Denmark,

Annette Markham

***BEGIN ANNOUNCEMENT***

1. Course title:

(Un)making data: Exploring (auto)ethnographic epistemologies and ‘What
counts?’ as relevant knowledge in a datafied era.

2. Course description:

The term ‘data’ refers to many things--the representation of traces of
human and nonhuman behaviors and experiences, isolated and observed as
discrete objects. While not the only way to describe data, this
conceptualization has become prominent in the so called digital age,
information age, or internet age, for good reason. Our social situations
are increasingly embedded in or saturated with digital and global networks
of information flows. We leave traces everywhere when we connect to the
internet. Massive amounts of information can be collected. Any of us who
use the internet know that we are continually producing data that will be
archived--by researchers, by marketers, by the companies who provide our
devices, platforms, apps, and so forth. The information itself is
microscopic and detailed. Whether produced deliberately or not, it is
possible to archive these traces, transforming them to units of information
that can be then combined with data that has been produced, archived, and
transformed elsewhere.

Computation of large datasets can reveal interesting patterns and yield
novel insights about human behavior. Perhaps because data is so plentiful,
minuscule, and detailed, researchers can sometimes forget that it is not
meaningful in itself. This mistake sometimes takes the form of assuming the
the parts add up to the whole. Or conflating data with knowledge. Whatever
the specific form of faulty reasoning, overvaluing the immediate meaning
and truth value of data is a problem amplified by the size and number of
datasets as well as the commonplace depiction of data as pre-existent and
neutral.

For interpretive ethnographers, the term “data” has been problematized for
decades because the word symbolically indicates an approach fundamentally
opposed to inductive, immersive, and interpretive modes of inquiry. How
should qualitative researchers respond to the recent tidal shifts toward
datafication? How do we design studies when “data” becomes the predominant
concept for giving shape or meaning to cultural materiality? We could
simply refuse to use the term, since it does not fit well with the
qualitative enterprise. Or we could try to replace ‘data’ with other terms.
Neither option confronts the actual problem, which is not data itself, or
the growth of computation as a way of knowing, but the rise (and reprise)
of positivist frameworks and procedures.

This course focuses on the concept of data alongside the concepts of
embodiment, affect, and situated knowing to explore contradictions and
possibilities for qualitative or mixed method social research. It begins
with the premise that concepts are always multiplicitous and ambiguous.
They function as powerful guides, in that they shape and target our
sensibilities, but also allow for specification within contexts. We ask
participants to consider, “How do our concepts of data operate on our
sensemaking practices?” By unpacking some of our epistemological frameworks
and everyday practices, we hope to identify some of the radically different
meanings operating in our theoretical frameworks, research design, and
everyday activities. Once these dual levels are recognized--a process that
requires conscious and critical self reflexivity, one can more
strategically frame and use data in multiple and nuanced ways to add layers
of meaning or augment to our analytical processes, while at the same time
resist recent positivist ideologies of datafication.

We also revive the autoethnographic focus on the researcher’s role in the
process of making data. We situate autoethnography as a natural part of
research as an embodied, lived practice. Understanding, focusing on, and
valuing the role of the researcher in generating accounts of phenomena is a
hallmark of contemporary interpretive traditions of ethnographic studies.
Thus, the course also focuses on how autoethnographic sensibilities can be
a strong counterpoint to data-centered orientations, a key element in
building ethically sensitive, situated knowledge.

3. To apply:
Please send a single PDF containing one page CV, one page motivation
statement, and one page discussion of your project, focusing on
epistemological, ethical, or methodological concerns. Email to:
schlueter.max at post.au.dk  --  Rolling admission begins immediately and
proceeds until seats are filled. For best consideration, submit prior to
March 15, 2019. Applications will be processed immediately on receipt. Once
your acceptance is confirmed, we will send you to the webshop to register
to reserve your seat. No fee for the workshop. Any reservation deposits
will be returned unless participant is a 'no show'. Contact Annette Markham
with questions or considerations.

4. Literature

Please contact course organizer for final literature list. Meanwhile,
participants would be well prepared if they read or even browsed the
following books and articles:

Adams, T., Holman Jones, S., & Ellis, C. (2014). Autoethnography.
Understanding Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cassell, J. (2002). Perturbing the system: "Soft science," "hard science,"
social science, the anxiety and madness of method. Human Organization,
61(2), 177-185.

Ellingson, L. L. (2017). Embodiment in qualitative research. London:
Routledge.

Ellingson, L. L. (2009). Engaging crystallization in qualitative research:
An introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ellingson, L. L. (1998). “Then you know how I feel”: Empathy,
identification, and reflexivity in fieldwork. Qualitative Inquiry, 4,
492-514.

Markham, A. N. (2017). Troubling the concept of data in digital qualitative
research. In Flick, U. (Ed.). Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection
(511-523). London: Sage.

Markham, A. N. (2013). Fieldwork in social media: What would Malinowski do?
Qualitative Communication Research, 2(4), 434-446.

Markham, A. N. (2013).  Undermining ‘data’: A critical examination of a
core term in scientific inquiry. First Monday, 18(10).
doi:10.5210/fm.v18i10.4868.

Wolf, M. (1991). A thrice told tale: Feminism, postmodernism, and
ethnographic responsibility. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.

5. Target group/ Participants

PhD students from any discipline. No prior knowledge is required, but
experience in qualitative research will be useful in comprehending and
situating the perspectives offered in this course.

6. Credits

VARIABLE: Students may wish to arrange with their supervisors to receive
2-3 ECTS for reading materials in advance and active participation at all
sessions. If students wish to receive additional ECTS, they may arrange to
submit a 25-30 page paper on the topic of the course, due 10 weeks after
the course. They will receive feedback from both professors.

9. Lecturers

Laura Ellingson, Professor of Communication and Women's & Gender Studies,
Santa Clara University, United States.

Professor Annette Markham, Professor MSO of Information Studies, Aarhus
University, Denmark

****END ANNOUNCEMENT***

*****************************************************
Annette N. Markham, Ph.D.
Professor MSO, School of Communication & Culture, Aarhus University
Affiliate Professor, School of Communication, Loyola University, Chicago
amarkham at gmail.com
http://annettemarkham.com/
http://pure.au.dk/portal/en/amarkham@cc.au.dk
Twitter: annettemarkham