+++ apologies for cross-posting +++
Dear colleagues,
We kindly invite you to submit abstracts to our panel at the 2022 EASST =
conference in Madrid, Spain (July 6-9, =
2022):=20
57.=C2=A0Datafication Goes Material: Digital Capitalism and the Material =
Conditions of Existence =
=20
Panel organizers: Yana Boeva, Kathrin Braun, Mascha Gugganig & Cordula =
Kropp
Datafication has been identified as a defining feature of contemporary =
capitalism. Scholarship in critical data studies, STS, social theory and =
political economy has interrogated the dynamics of datafication =
processes in light of a larger sociotechnical and techno-economic =
reconfiguration of capitalism, captured by concepts such as =
platformisation, financialisation and assetisation (Birch and Muniesa =
2020; Burrell and Fourcade 2021; Fourcade and Healy 2017; Sadowski 2019; =
Srnicek 2017). =46rom a perspective of digital capitalism, the =E2=80=9Cda=
ta imperative=E2=80=9D (Fourcade and Healy 2017), datafication and the =
according data-driven forms of re-organising social life are based on =
forms of data extraction that amount to new forms of appropriation and =
dispossession through digital enclosure (Cohen 2019; Sadowski 2019) or =
data colonialism (Couldry and Mejias 2019). The first analyses on these =
matters primarily focused on digital service platforms that generate =
revenue from different personal and interaction data that enables =
monitoring, assessing, predicting and manipulating social actions. In =
short, the discussion has focused on data about social life and =
resulting questions of privacy, confidentiality, bias and data =
sovereignty.
More recently, however, the logic of capitalist datafication or datafied =
capitalism is expanding beyond the realm of services and behavioural =
data. Datafication increasingly permeates and enrols the material =
world=E2=80=94the world of things, of physical matter, or, in Marxian =
terms, the modes of production of material life and the material =
conditions of existence. We can see this expansion already in the fields =
of agriculture, forestry, medicine, and building construction (Braun et =
al. under review; Gabrys 2020; Gugganig and Bronson forthcoming; Kuch et =
al. 2020), others are likely to follow. The increasing integration of =
technologies (such as sensors, cloud computing, virtual reality, AI and =
robotics) enables systems for data gathering, data-generating and =
data-processing directed at the re-production, transformation and =
incorporation of not only human behaviour, but also buildings, cities, =
streets, plants, forests, and bodies in a very material sense. =
Buildings, streets, plants and bodies simultaneously become data and the =
product of data deployed to increase efficiency and control. =
Concurrently, the material preconditions of datafication =E2=80=93 the =
need for rare earth minerals, energy resources, telecommunication =
infrastructures, but also cheap labour =E2=80=93 demand closer attention =
(Cobby 2020). These datafied modes of production raise new questions:
=E2=80=A2 What are the material preconditions of datafication processes, =
and do they differ between classic services and more material worlds?
=E2=80=A2 Who or what owns and controls these means of production? Who =
owns this kind of data? And who is probably dispossessed?
=E2=80=A2 What are the institutional frameworks and infrastructures =
shaping this transformation?
=E2=80=A2 What would be forms of resistance and collective action?
=E2=80=A2 Can we conceive of material data-based modes of production =
that are not owned and controlled by states or corporations?
=E2=80=A2 What do appropriation, colonialism or dispossession mean in =
this context? Who are the actors?
=E2=80=A2 How does it affect the planetary material conditions of =
existence? How does it transform what is being built, what is being =
grown, what medical treatment is, how does it affect our lives and =
living conditions materially?
We welcome submissions addressing these questions but are not limited to =
them.
Key words: datafication, materialities, capitalism
Deadline: February 1st, 2021.
Best wishes,
Yana Boeva
Yana Boeva, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Stuttgart
Institute for Social Sciences | Cluster of Excellence "Integrative =
Computational=C2=A0Design and Construction for Architecture =
=E2=80=9D
yanaboeva.xyz | twitter.com/dropsmops =
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