News

We are delighted to share the news that our co-director, Lina Dencik, has been awarded a €1.4 million Starting Grant from the European Research Council. The project DATAJUSTICE will explore developments in data infrastructures and data-driven decision-making within Europe, looking particularly at impacts on marginalised communities and social and economic rights. In the coming months Lina will post further information about the project including details of PhD and Post-doc positions. Watch this space!

The directors of the Data Justice Lab are currently discussing their work and the data justice research agenda at universities and conferences on both sides of the Atlantic. Here are a few upcoming events:

“From Surveillance Realism to Data Justice”, Lina Dencik. University of Sheffield, UK, Room 123 (9 Mapping St), Wednesday 7 June, 1pm.

“Towards Data Justice? Citizenship and Social Justice in Times of
Datafication”, Arne Hintz. University of Toronto, Canada, Faculty of Information, Inforum, Room 417, Monday 12 June, 4pm.

“Challenging Surveillance: Activism in a Datafied World”, Arne Hintz (with Stefania Milan and Evan Light). Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, Room RCC202, Monday 19 June, 2pm.

Several talks by Joanna Redden, Lina Dencik and Arne Hintz on data justice, datafied citizenship and surveillance policy at the Data Power conference in Ottawa, Canada, 22/23 June.

 

 

Funding is currently available for students in postgraduate programmes at Cardiff University, including the MA Digital Media and Society and the PhD in Journalism (with a focus on Digital Media and Society). Applications for the coming academic year (2017/18) are still accepted. Students are welcome to work on issues of data justice and become part of the Lab.

The MA Digital Media and Society explores current challenges in areas such as big data, digital rights, social media, digital culture and economy, internet governance and online politics. The Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies also offers a wide range of other MA programmes in areas such as journalism studies, data journalism, and political communication.

Cardiff University offers Master’s Excellence Scholarships in the form of a tuition fee discount. To be eligible for the scholarships, please apply for the MA programme no later than 15 June.

The School’s PhD programme encourages students to engage with one of its research clusters, including Digital Media and Society. Applications that are submitted by Friday 2^nd June will be considered for an ESRC studentship programme that addresses research challenges in areas such as digital infrastructure and the use of data.

Cardiff’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC) is one of the world’s leading departments in Media & Communications. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework the school was ranked 2nd in the UK for the quality of its journalism, media and communications research.

We are delighted to have been rewarded a CUROP grant from Cardiff’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies to fund a student researcher to carry out research for the project ‘Citizen Scoring in the Age of Big Data: Society and the Media’. JOMEC student Adriana Panova will be with us for the months of June and July and will research the uses of data scores in the UK and how this has been covered in the British media. Welcome Adriana!

‘My name is Adriana Panova, I am 20 years old and I am from Bulgaria. Currently I am a Media and Communications student and outside of my degree I am a blogger and digital influencer. I have a strong passion for photography and writing. I also love to travel and hope that one day my job will involve a lot of traveling around the world. I have lived in Bulgaria, Hungary and Ethopia before I moved to the UK. Additionally, I can fluently speak Bulgarian, English, German and I am currently learning French.’

The Data Justice Lab was launched on 17 March 2017 with a one-day workshop that brought together experts on datafication and social justice, followed by a launch event in the late afternoon with three keynote speeches. Below you can view the full afternoon event as well as the separate keynotes.

Full video of the launch event, 17 March 2017:

 

Keynote speech by Virginia Eubanks (New America):

 

Keynote speech (online) by Steven Renderos (Center for Media Justice):

 

Keynote speech by Malavika Jayaram (Digital Asia Hub):

The Data Justice Lab participated in this year’s Re:publica conference in Berlin. We discussed the datafication of society and its many consequences and asked: How can we address possible harms and challenges for social justice?

Towards Data Justice: Social Justice in an Era of Datafication

Berlin, 9 May, 4:15pm

Recording of the talk is available here.

The Data Justice Lab is helping Cardiff University’s Digital Cultures Network organize a one-day symposium on Investigating (with) Big Data. The event will bring both humanities and social science perspectives to the field of Big Data to think about critical uses and useful critiques of ‘datafication’ in humanities and social sciences research. It explores Big Data-based research and investigations, questions surrounding the generation, use and interpretation of Big Data, and the risks and challenges of Big Data.

Topics that will be addressed include:

·         New research objects for analysis such as digital music, film
·         Constructing big data for research
·         Text- and data-mining of historical and archival material
·         Curation and preservation of big data
·         Big data and archival practice
·         Linked data and Big Data
·         The myths of data-based objectivity and impartiality
·         Characteristics and gaps of data-based epistemologies
·         Discrimination in data analysis
·         Investigating algorithms

Deadline for abstract submissions: 24 April 2017.