Eurograd message

                Dear colleagues,

Please find below (and attached) a call for papers for the workshop
“Micropolitics of measurement” that will be held in Paris on the 21st of
June, 2024. This workshop is supported by the Society for the Social
Studies of Quantification.

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*Call for the Workshop “Micropolitics of Measurement”*

Workshop organized in *Paris, June, 21, 2024* (ENS)

Since the 1990s, the field of Social Studies of Quantification (SSQ) has
emerged as an interdisciplinary nexus, probing the pervasive influence of
numbers across societal domains. This scholarly pursuit, featuring seminal
works (Desrosières 1998, Hopwood and Miller 1994, Porter 1995, Espeland and
Stevens 1998), spans an array of numerically framed artifacts, from
official statistics to financial indices, and ventures into the digital
era's personal metrics (Hirschman and Berman 2018, Mennicken and Espeland
2019, Mennicken and Salais, 2022). Yet, within this expanse, the pivotal
process of measurement itself—the conversion of the abstract to the
quantifiable—has garnered less spotlight.

Our approach seeks to enhance SSQ by spotlighting this overlooked yet
critical phase: the micropolitics of measurement. We propose to move beyond
the traditional segmentation of the number’s life cycle—namely, the
establishment of conventions and the use of numbers—focusing instead on the
relatively neglected juncture of these processes, which has been buried in
the routine of practitioners. This phase of the quantification process,
often unnoticed, involves intricate activities that elevate raw data to
authoritative figures, a journey that is as political as it is technical.

Drawing on Infrastructure Studies (Star and Ruhleder 1996, Bowker 1996,
Star 1999, Edwards, 2010; Edwards et al. 2011), and Data Studies (Borgman,
2015; Bates et al., 2016; Ebeling, 2016; Leonelli, 2016; Denis and Goëta,
2017; Leonelli and Tempini, 2020), three research axes guide our inquiry:

1.     The Measure as a pivotal junction: We suggest measurement is the
pivotal yet missing piece in the trajectory of numbers. It encapsulates the
translation of empirical reality into quantifiable constructs, a process
teeming with implicit choices and political underpinnings.

2.     Bridging Socio-History and Measurement: In the socio-historical
realm, we revisit the classical dyad of convention and measurement. Rather
than treating them as distinct, we explore their interconnectedness and the
degree to which they inform one another, thus enriching the tapestry of SSQ
with questions of creation and continuity.

3.     Anticipating the Impact of Usage: Recognizing that measurement is
situated upstream in the trajectory of numbers, we also glimpse the
foreshadowed questions of usage. Our perspective preemptively engages with
how numbers, once measured, exert influence and shape actions within their
subsequent domains of application.

Through this refined lens, the micropolitics of measurement invites a
robust interrogation of data’s genesis, flow, categorization, and the
resultant societal perceptions. It urges us to consider how data authority
is established and the ensuing tensions within categorical confines.
Moreover, it challenges us to scrutinize how practitioners mediate these
intricacies during the measurement act. These explorations form the basis
for a deeper understanding of the embedded politics within SSQ, heralding a
new chapter of research in this dynamic field.

The expected communications will be based on a rich empirical material, and
may address but are not limited to the following questions:

·       What processes give rise to data?

·       Through what channels does data traverse and exchange hands?

·       In what ways are the complexities of the world distilled into
defined categories?

·       What role do measurement practices play in crafting our perceptions
of reality?

·       How do numerical figures acquire their authoritative stance, and in
whose eyes? What lends credence to these figures during the measurement
process?

·       In what manner do the rigors of measurement strain or reaffirm the
integrity of established categories?

·       How do practitioners within the measurement domain navigate the
inherent tensions and resolve the conflicts that arise from their
activities?

*Practical information*

The workshop will take place in *Paris, June, 21, 2024*. Participants
commit to presenting unpublished research and to sending *a full paper* to
the organizers *one month* before the workshop. Presentations will be held
in English.

Proposals should be *about 1000 words*. We expect them to demonstrate the
connection with the three aforementioned axes and also provide an
explanation of the empirical fieldwork. The proposals should be sent to
beaurepaire.camille@gmail.com, quentin.dufour@ens.psl.eu and
siyu.li1450@gmail.com  by *January 15, 2024, *by specifying in the
title *[Workshop
Micropolitics of Measurement*]*.*

*Limited funds are available* to cover for travel and accommodation
expenses if needed. To apply for such a grant, please provide a
one-paragraph statement detailing your request for financial support.

*Organizing committee*

Camille Beaurepaire (CMH, ENS-EHESS)

Quentin Dufour (CMH, ENS-EHESS)

Siyu Li (Irasia, Université Aix-Marseille)

*References*

Bates, J., Lin, Y.-W., & Goodale, P. (2016). Data journeys: Capturing the
socio-material constitution of data objects and flows. *Big Data & Society*,
*3*(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716654502



Berman, E., Hirschman, D., (2018). The Sociology of Quantification: Where
Are We Now?. *Contemporary Sociology*, 47(3), 257-266.

Borgman, C., (2015). *Big Data, Little Data, No Data. Scholarship in the
Networked World*. The MIT Press.

Bowker, G. (1996). The history of information infrastructures: the case of
the international classification of diseases. *Information Processing and
Management*, 32(1) 42-61.

Denis, J., & Goëta, S. (2017). Rawification and the careful generation of
open government data. *Social studies of science*, *47*(5), 604–629.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312717712473




Desrosières, A. (1998). *The politics of large numbers: a history of
statistical reasonning, Cambridge*. Harvard University Press.

Ebeling, M. F. E. (2016). *Healthcare and Big Data: Digital Specters and
Phantom Objects*. Palgrave Macmillan US.

Edwards, P. (2010). *A vast machine: Computer models, Climate data, and the
politics of global warming*. The MIT Press.

Edwards, P. N., Mayernik, M. S., Batcheller, A. L., Bowker, G. C., &
Borgman, C. L. (2011). Science friction: Data, metadata, and
collaboration. *Social
Studies of Science*, 41(5), 667-690. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0306312711413314 



Espeland, W., & Stevens, M. 1998, Commensuration as social process. *Annual
Review of Sociology*, 24(1), 313-343.

Hopwood, A., Miller, P. (1994). *Accounting as social and institutional
practice*. Cambridge University Press.

Leonelli, S. (2016). *Data-Centric Biology. A Philosophical Study*. The
University of Chicago Press.

Leonelli, S., & Tempini, N. (Eds.). (2020). *Data journeys in the
sciences.* Springer
International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37177-7




Mennicken, A., & Espeland, W., (2019). What’s New with Numbers?
Sociological Approaches to the Study of Quantification. *Annual Review of
Sociology*, 45, 223-245.

Mennicken, A., Salais, R. (Ed) (2022). *The new politics of numbers.
Utopia, evidence and democracy*. Palgrave Macmillan.

Porter, T. (1995). *Trust in numbers. The pursuit of objectivity in science
and public life*. Princeton University Press.

Star, S. L. (1999). The Ethnography of Infrastructure. *American Behavioral
Scientist*, 43(3), 377-391. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027649921955326


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Star, S. L., & Ruhleder, K. (1996). Steps Toward an Ecology of
Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces. *Information
Systems Research*, 7(1),111-134.

--
Quentin Dufour
Post-Doctorant en sociologie au CMH
Responsable de la chaire QUALIDATA - ENS
Membre de l'ISNS - Paris Santé Campus
quentindufour92@gmail.com
https://cv.archives-ouvertes.fr/quentin-dufour
+33 6 68 30 10 59

Centre Maurice Halbwachs
École Normale Supérieure - EHESS
48 Bd Jourdan 75014 Paris

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pdf which had a name of Call Micropolitics of Measurement.pdf]
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