Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society
Mirko Sch盲fer and Karin van Es
In Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society: Methods and Practices for Investigation and Intervention, Mirko Sch盲fer and Karin van Es (both Utrecht 木瓜福利影视), together with (Carleton 木瓜福利影视), provide concrete tools for conducting collaborative academic research.
Societal engagement of universities
鈥淭oday鈥檚 universities seek to appear, or actually be, socially engaged,鈥 Sch盲fer and Van Es say. 鈥淭hey aim to shape their research and teaching to contribute to addressing major challenges. Migration, climate change, demographic change, inequality, for example, or, as in our case, digitisation and AI. In Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society, we provide concrete examples for such collaborative research.鈥
Outside university walls
Austerity measures and neoliberal ideologies have sparked discussions about the relevance and value of academic institutions, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. In response, universities are redirecting their academic focus towards greater societal engagement.
According to Sch盲fer and Van Es, academia has much to gain by moving beyond its institutional walls. In Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society, they give examples of doing data work with stakeholders and civil society. Such collaborative work benefits not only citizens in our democratic, open societies, they argue, but also yields relevant insights for academic research and advances our knowledge economies.
The power of collaborative research
Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society offers a combination of theoretical insights, practical methodologies, and case studies. The book showcases the power of collaborative research with stakeholders across diverse communities and civil society, to tackle pressing challenges stemming from data practices and social justice issues.
The book鈥檚 chapters formulate relevant concepts for grounding societally engaged research in the theories and methodologies from different disciplines. In addition, it informs university administrators and research directors how to advance academia effectively towards mutual knowledge transfer with societal sectors.
Contributing Utrecht scholars
Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 scholars who contributed essays to Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society are Payal Arora (鈥楥onfronting Politicized Research: The Case for Reflexive Neutrality鈥), Krista Ettlinger and Albert Meijer (鈥楾he DataWorkplace: Collaborative Learning about Datafication in Local Government鈥), Fabian Ferrari (鈥楾he Fairwork Project: Promoting Good Labor Practices in the Digital Platform Economy through Action Research鈥), and Daan Kolkman (鈥榊ou Will Be Assimilated: Reflections on Ethnographic Fieldwork on Algorithmic Systems鈥).