[Air-L] June 29-30: DATACTIVE final event

[Niels ten Oever]

Dear all,

We are nearing the end of the ERC-funded DATACTIVE project and*we have many accomplishments to celebrate*!

For almost six years now, we have worked together to *investigate the complex and multifaceted field of data activist imaginaries and practices*. We have had a wonderful time bringing together academics, practitioners, hackers and artists from around the world. We have engaged in numerous interviews, focus groups, participant observation of activist events, and we have even developed our own open-source tools to support our research. Together, we have traced the evolution of a global network of data activists and tried to figure out how institutions are reacting to their mobilization. We have explored the various ways in which publics engage with surveillance regimes and how notions of risk articulate strategies to resist it. We have shed light on the workings of the algorithms that power big tech platforms and located how human rights considerations painstakingly make their way into the infrastructure of the internet. With the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also
devoted our attention to the politics of counting in the first pandemic in a datafied society, the inherent forms of exclusion and the risks of techno-solutionism.

Throughout these six years, *the 'we' of DATACTIVE has been neither static nor stable*. DATACTIVE has been home to no less than 26 people in its core team, plus the many other research associates, interns, and collaborators who visited for period of time and enriched our work with their expertise and unique contributions.

Although the project is coming to an end, we are well aware that our work is not done. We will take our data-activist approach to research to other venues and groups, and continue asking critical questions wherever we will land.

But it is now time for thanks and celebrations! Please join us on *Tuesday the 29th of June 2021 *(13.00-17.30 CEST)**for the DATACTIVE closing event entitled *DATA ACTIVISM FUTURES*, to celebrate looking back and ponder about the future. We have our Principal Investigator Stefania Milan reflecting on five years of data activism, after which the PhD candidates will take central stage. Becky Kazansky will shed light on threat modelling within civil society and grassroots resistance to surveillance, Guillén Torres will present his work on institutional resistance to transparency efforts by citizens, and Niels ten Oever will take us through the politics of infrastructure. Guest speakers include Maxigas (University of Amsterdam), Fieke Jansen (Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University), Claudio (Algorithms Exposed), and Svitlana Matviyenko (Digital Democracies Institute). Davide Beraldo will engage in a discussion with artists Joana Moll, Manu Luksch, Karla Zavala & Adriaan Odenzaal,
and Viola van Alphen about how art can contribute to the data activism agenda by fostering critical data literacy

The DATACTIVE final event will be followed by a *public roundtable discussion on ART AS DATA ACTIVISM *scheduled on the next day, *Wednesday the 30th of June 2021 *(17.00-18.30 CEST). Participating artists: Joana Moll (Barcelona/Berlin based artist and researcher, Universität Potsdam and Escola Elisava), Manu Luksch (Artist in Residence at The School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London), Karla Zavala & Adriaan Odenzaal (☕️ internet teapot l design & research studio), and Viola van Alphen (Creative Director and Curator Manifestations at Dutch Design Week. Art, Tech, and Fun!). Moderated by Lonneke van der Velden.

Note that each event has its own separate registration process.

Please join us!

*More info & registration: *HERE <https://data-activism.net/2021/06/june-29-30-datactive-final-event/>

(if link doesn't open: https://data-activism.net/2021/06/june-29-30-datactive-final-event/)


-- 
Niels ten Oever, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher - Media Studies Department - University of Amsterdam
Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Communications Department - Texas A&M University
Research Fellow - Centre for Internet and Human Rights - European University Viadrina
Associated Scholar - Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade - Fundação Getúlio Vargas

W: https://nielstenoever.net
E: mail at nielstenoever.net
T: @nielstenoever
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Read my dissertation 'Wired Norms' here: https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/50781961/Thesis.pdf