“Bodies not templates”: Contesting dominant algorithmic imaginaries

Abstract

Through an array of technological solutions and awareness-raising initiatives, civil society mobilizes against an onslaught of surveillance threats. What alternative values, practices, and tactics emerge from the grassroots which point toward other ways of being in the datafied society? Conversing with critical data studies, science and technology studies, and surveillance studies, this article looks at how dominant imaginaries of datafication are reconfigured and responded to by groups of people dealing directly with their harms and risks. Building on practitioner interviews and participant observation in digital rights events and surveying projects intervening in three critical technological issues of our time—the challenges of digitally secure computing, the Internet of Things, and the threat of widespread facial recognition—this article investigates social justice activists, human rights defenders, and progressive technologists as they try to flip dominant algorithmic imaginaries. In so doing, the article contributes to our understanding of how individuals and social groups make sense of the challenges of datafication from the bottom-up.

Digital resource abundance: How social media shapes success and failure of online mobilisation

“…This could be reflected in current debates on social media platforms' exercise of censorship and surveillance (Leistert, 2015;cf. also Kazansky and Milan, 2021). Nonetheless, online activists are often unaware of how current social media algorithms operate, meaning that they are 'left in the dark' (Etter and Brindusa Albu, 2021:70;cf.…”

Datificación en contextos de corrupción: imaginarios sociotécnicos y prácticas de resistencia frente a sistemas antipobreza en Colombia

“…En el análisis de los procesos de datificación, investigaciones recientes han utilizado el concepto de imaginarios sociotécnicos precisamente para entender cómo los ciudadanos y comunidades dan sentido a sus prácticas y experiencias con datos y algoritmos (Bucher, 2017;Kazansky y Milan, 2021;Lehtiniemi y Ruckenstein, 2019;Mansell, 2012). El reciente trabajo de Kazansky y Milan, por ejemplo, presenta tres casos de proyectos de software libre y contravigilancia (Qubes OS, Dowse y CV Dazzle) para ilustrar la existencia y potencial de imaginarios sociotécnicos alternativos.…”

Constraining context: Situating datafication in public administration

“…Data activist studies have, therefore, started to research bottom-up initiatives in response to unjust data practices (Beraldo and Milan, 2019). This article builds on this research and directs analytical attention toward the ways dominant imaginaries of datafication are mediated and responded to within various contexts in which they are employed, prior to their working in the world (Kazansky and Milan, 2021). By doing so, the article aims to produce an actionable critique rather than a general and oversimplified account of datafication.…”