Research on Power, Agency and Datafied Societies

#Privacy 
#Surveillance 
#Technological Solutionism  
#Responsabilization  
#Literacy  

Social media, mobile technology, recommender systems, artificial intelligence, and other data-driven technologies create both significant opportunities and challenges. Both these technologies and the accompanying datafication, where specific aspects of our everyday life are captured as data, have a profound impact. 

On various fronts, the agency of individual citizens is increasingly under pressure. For instance, it has become nearly impossible for individuals to maintain complete control over their personal data and online privacy, often resulting in feelings of privacy cynicism or apathy. Additionally, a new surveillance culture has emerged and is now maturing. This not only involves the monitoring of ordinary citizens by governments or tech companies but also reconfigures everyday social realities. Consider, for instance, the availability of tracking devices to monitor children, and how parents weigh whether anyplace anytime parental surveillance can be viewed as a normal or even necessary aspect of modern parenting. 

The almost religious belief in data and new technology, along with their portrayal in industry, education and policy, reveals underlying mechanisms of power play. New technologies are frequently perceived as neutral forces with natural societal impacts or are presented as essential tools for solving societal issues. However, aside from questions about the effectiveness of new technology, it remains uncertain whether everyone is sufficiently skilled or willing to keep up with this evolution, as well as it specific implications and consequences for society at large. 

Mission 

It is imec-mict's mission to empower people in digitizing society. Such empowerment must occur within a just society, where there is a clear balance between individual and societal responsibility, ensuring that processes of datafication and digitalization do not simply devolve into individual responsabilization. Our mission is to critically examine the tensions between power and agency caused by new technologies. We seek to identify power asymmetries, mitigate responsabilization, and amplify the voices of (vulnerable) audiences. In our research, we use both traditional social methods (such as surveys and interviews) as well as more innovative approaches like digital ethnography. 

Research pillars 

• Examine how datafication pervades our privacy, erode social norms and create biases in the outcome they produce. 

• Reflect critically on the desirability of new technologies (for example in education or social policy) and the ways they are used and designed to tackle societal problems. 

• Examine how existing social roles and inequalities are either challenged or reinforced (e.g., gender roles). 
• Explore the various implications of surveillance culture. 
• Study new forms of literacy (e.g., AI literacy). 

Contact

For more information contact ralf.dewolf@ugent.be