The Politics of Data and Algorithms

Welcome to the advanced seminar in Media Technology with Francis Lee

This talk outlines some ways in which we can approach data and algorithms as political entities that shape how we can know and act in the world. The talk draws on the metaphors of a sieve and a funnel to discuss how the algorithmic politics of our time shapes our world and argues that we risk creating a filtered and narrowed—sterile—world, where the things that don’t fit into the ”normal” risk being excluded. The talk draws on my empirical work on bioscientific laboratories, disease surveillance, and the production of synthetic data. In conclusion it argues for a polymorphous engagement with ”the computational.” That we need to pay attention to how data and algorithms are constructed in practice both as technical objects, but also in mundane everyday practices.