Eurograd message

                Dear EASST mailing list coordinators, I would like to submit the following
call for abstract to the mailing list members.
Thank you for your collaboration and I remain at your disposal for any
further information.

Best,
Chiara Loschi
University of Bologna, Department of Philosophy

---


Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your abstracts for the panel 76
«Where sociomateriality lies: Re-thinking the synergies between STS and
Information Infrastructure studies in the age of datafication», which will
take place at the STS-Italia 10th Conference in Milan, June 11–13, 2025
(Panel № ). Please find the abstract below and here:
https://stsitalia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/76.Where-sociomateriality-li
es_-Re-thinking-the-synergies-between-STS-and-Information-Infrastructure-stud
ies-in-the-age-of-datafication-ID_122.pdf


If you wish to participate in this panel, please submit an abstract (max
500 words) on the conference website by 3 February (
https://stsitalia.org/submission-2025/). You can find more details about
the conference and submission process here: STS-Italia Call for Abstracts<
Call for Abstracts


Best wishes,

Claudio Coletta, University of Bologna
Chiara Loschi, University of Bologna
Lorenzo Olivieri, University of Bologna
Annalisa Pelizza, University of Bologna

PANEL 76. Where sociomateriality lies: Re-thinking the synergies between
STS and Information Infrastructure studies in the age of datafication

Convenors:
Claudio Coletta, University of Bologna
Chiara Loschi, University of Bologna
Lorenzo Olivieri, University of Bologna
Annalisa Pelizza, University of Bologna

Keywords: Sociomateriality, datafication, epistemology, information
infrastructures, methods,
ontology

The neighboring fields of STS and Information Infrastructures (II) studies
are being crossed by opposite but complementary dynamics. On one hand,
limiting their engagement with sociomateriality to the selection of the
object of analysis (I.e., technical artefacts), upcoming trends in data
studies are favoring discursive explanations of technological dynamics in
“science, technology and society” (a broad type of “STS”). However,
electing datafcation technologies and practices as object of study is not
sufficient to qualify as “STS” in the more specific sense of a field of
study that developed recognizable epistemological debates and theoretical
insights. On the other hand, II studies are experiencing a centripetal
move. The analytical and methodological resources introduced in over twenty
years are now deployed well beyond the traditional boundaries of the feld,
finding application in sensitive and power-laden thematic areas like
climate change, health, security, to name a few. And still, the
conceptualization of “information infrastructures” qualifies a distinct
sociomaterial form, characterized vis-à-vis “systems” and “platforms”
by its
 heterogeneity of components, multiplicity of users and uses, process-based
methodologies, epistemologies open to grasp ever-evolving integration and
distributed governance. II studies are thus opening to a broader range of
matters of concern while retaining an epistemologically distinct approach
to datafication. While digital STS share similar epistemological concerns,
they are risking confining their sociomaterial core to an object of study
(e.g., algorithms, data, digital artefacts), somewhat following emergent
areas of study like “critical data studies,” “critical algorithmic
studies”, “data ethics.” The epistemological, methodological and
analytical
specificities of the field appear less enticing. Drawing on these
developments, we propose this panel to discuss where sociomateriality lies
in (digital) STS and II studies vis-à-vis neighboring disciplines and
emerging research areas. How is sociomateriality conceptualized and enacted
in the two fields? Does it lie at the ontological, epistemological,
methodological or interventionist level? What epistemological perspectives
do the two fields share? In what way do they differ? What are the
analytical and methodological tools they share (or not)? What is the space
for theory in both? How do each of them respectively address the
relationship with policy and policymakers?

The panel welcomes submissions inspired by (but not limited to) these
questions, and empirical investigations about:

• The sociomateriality of datafcation in STS, Information Infrastructure
studies, Critical
 Data Science, Digital anthropology, etc. What is meant with it in the
neighboring fields, beyond the original focus on pipelines and data
centers, and beyond data practices and technologies as objects of study;
• Data epistemologies across different sub-disciplines (e.g. Critical Data
Science, Digital anthropology, IIs, Digital STS);
• Sociomateriality “at work” in governance/political processes and data
infrastructures
 (involving security, climate, health, etc.);
• Methodologies to investigate the relationality and performativity of
sociomaterial data
 infrastructures, vis-à-vis systems and platforms;
• Refections on the politics of design and governance, and on how data
infrastructures
 enact policies by reinforcing or contesting social norms and exclusionary
regimes,
 depending on who controls, accesses, or can modify them;
• Reconfiguring ethical considerations and obligations in handling
personal, biometric,
 health and environmental health data, from the perspective of digital STS,
Critical Data Studies, II studies or other perspectives.


*Dr. Chiara Loschi*
Assistant Professor (tenured-track RTT) | Department of Philosophy

University of Bologna, via Zamboni 38, 40126 Bologna, Italy

*ORCID*: 0000-0002-7782-5583 ;
*Scopus* ID: 57193254508



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