[Air-L] Working Group on Data Sharing - Introductory Meeting - 17 October 2024

[Georgios Zoukas]

Dear colleagues,

Please see below an invitation to participate in the introductory meeting
of the *Working Group on Data Sharing*, taking place this month online. The
group is intended to be highly interdisciplinary, aimed at discussing
historical, social, and political aspects of data sharing within different
contexts.

We are pleased to announce that, through the auspices of the Commission for
History and Philosophy of Computing (HAPOC) and in collaboration with the
AI Ethics & Society research group, we will be convening the Working Group
on Data Sharing starting this October. The new HaPoC working group will
meet online to discuss (your!) work-in-progress, classic texts, and
recently published works. We invite researchers and curious minds from all
backgrounds to join us in order to explore the historical and evolving
concepts of data, sharing, and (historically rooted, socially contested,
politically supported) aspects of data sharing.
We invite you to offer your draft article, dissertation chapter or book
chapter for discussion. Our first meeting takes place on *Thursday 17
October at 4pm GMT*. Please send an email to Vassilis.Galanos at stir.ac.uk
<Vassilis.Galanos at ed.ac.uk> to get access links, details and ask questions.
The first meeting is to discuss a classic text on the nature of data by Rob
Kitchin and decide together on the dates of upcoming events.
We wish to create an inclusive hub for interdisciplinary collaboration
among early career researchers to foster a deeper understanding of the
significant role that data sharing plays within and beyond computerised
contexts. Throughout our first year, we hope to explore various
perspectives on the concept of data, aiming for a comprehensive
understanding that spans digital and pre-digital eras.
Our events are convened roughly every two months for 1-1.5h. They provide a
platform for thoughtful dialogue among historians, philosophers,
technologists, STS and media scholars. Embodying a spirit of informality
and cheerfulness, our sessions are designed to be engaging and insightful,
offering participants regular networking opportunities. We provide multiple
ways to get involved – whether by circulating your full paper
confidentially prior to the event or present to get and offer real-time
feedback. In addition, we are planning occasional guest invited talks and
interactions with other colleagues exploring data-related themes. Although
we do not offer scholarships or funding, your engagement – as part of your
academic commitments or sparked by pure curiosity – may open doors to
valuable cross-national and cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Please get in touch! Your participation is key to enriching our collective
understanding of data sharing, its enabling technologies, and its impacts.
If you know of people who might be interested to participate and get
involved in this new HaPoC working group, please do circulate this
announcement.
Our initiators, Barbara Hof (Lausanne), Vassilis Galanos (Stirling),
Apolline Taillandier (Cambridge), Xiao Yang (Edinburgh), and George Zoukas
(Sheffield), are excited to extend this invitation to you.