For „Big data Histories“, a special issue of the TMG Journal for Media History, Karin van Es and Eef Masson interviewed the Data School co-founder and project lead Mirko Tobias Schäfer. In this interview he describes our distinct approach to research the impact of data and digitization. Initially it was lack of funding that pointed…

In its most recent predictions of trends for the coming year, Gartner indicates digital ethics and privacy as a top strategy for companies. As the technology and financial industries, governments and even research institutions grapple with ethical issues raised through the data practices and their social impact, ethics starts to fill the vacuum left by…

Door: Maranke Wieringa, Ludo Gorzeman, Daniela van Geenen, Mirko Tobias Schäfer In een team van onderzoekers verbonden aan de Data School (Universiteit Utrecht) en de Hogeschool Utrecht, voornamelijk het lectoraat Crossmediale Kwaliteitsjournalistiek zijn we in een langlopend project bezig om de Nerderlangs(talig)e Twittersfeer in kaart te brengen. Het onderzoek in opdracht van Vrij Nederland en Nieuwsuur is…

Tracing ethical issues in data projects with the Data Ethics Decision Aid (DEDA) Data, algorithms and models are not simply neutral. On the contrary, they can constitute significant social impact and affect the individual livelihood as much as larger parts of society. Recently the Unemployment Agency of Michigan has been criticized for using a software…

From the beginning, the panel had a shared understanding that Critical Data Studies would include or touch upon the inquiry of platforms, algorithms, and data. Informed by software studies, media studies, and the science of technology studies, the emerging Critical Data Studies seem inherently to combine qualitative empirical research methods with digital methods and data…

Editorial Notes Information technology affords that almost all aspects of our lives can be translated into data, data that are used for forecasting, assessment, real-time tracking, targeted advertising and polling. The practice of digitization and the role of electronic information media technology affects to various degrees almost all aspects of everyday life. Web platforms, such…

Social Media Use in Public Management and Police Social media are increasingly popular means for social interaction, sharing information and point of views. Among their users are also politicians, public institutions and corporations expanding their ways of communication through using social media. But social media also generate an enormous amount of data simply through their…

Met een interdisplinaire inspanning hebben Alex Gekker en Mirko Tobia Schäfer van de Data School en professor Annelies Zoomers van International Development Studies onderzocht hoe digitale methodes onderzoek informeert in de geowetenschappen. Kijkend naar het fenoneem van het landroof debat hebben de onderzoekers gekeken hoe data van social media platforms en website het perspectief van…

Irene Westra, executive secretary van de Data School, heeft de prestigieuze Peter G. Swanborn prijs gewonnen voor haar bachelor scriptie in sociologie. Samen met co-auteur Elmira van den Broek heeft Irene onderzoek gedaan naar het effect van instituties op de mate van organisatorische prestaties van open source communities. In hun zorgvuldig onderzochte paper ‚The influence of institutions…

Gerwin van Schie, Irene Westra en Mirko Tobias Schäfer hebben hun onderzoek over de etische uitdagingen in data gedreven onderzoek gepresenteerd op de workshop „Standards, Disruptions and Values in Digital Culture and Communication“ Nieuwe data gedreven methodes laten stof doen opwaaien in afdelingen die nauwelijks zijn geconfronteerd met het afvragen van haar eigen professionele gedragsnormen. Met een ongekende…