Book publication: Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society

In Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society: Methods and Practices for Investigation and Intervention, Mirko Schäfer and Karin van Es (both Data School, Centre for Digital Humanities, Utrecht University), together with Tracey P. Lauriault (Carleton University), provide concrete tools for conducting collaborative academic research. The volume is available in open access.

Societal engagement of universities

“Today’s universities seek to appear, or actually be, socially engaged,” Schäfer and Van Es say. “They 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.”

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 Schäfer 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’s 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 University scholars who contributed essays to Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society are Payal Arora (‘Confronting Politicized Research: The Case for Reflexive Neutrality’), Krista Ettlinger and Albert Meijer (‘The DataWorkplace: Collaborative Learning about Datafication in Local Government’), Fabian Ferrari (‘The Fairwork Project: Promoting Good Labor Practices in the Digital Platform Economy through Action Research’), and Daan Kolkman (‘You Will Be Assimilated: Reflections on Ethnographic Fieldwork on Algorithmic Systems’).

More information

Read more about this book on the website of the publisher.

Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society has also been covered in the media: ‘Onderzoekers pleiten voor meer samenwerking met ambtenaren’, iBestuur (28 August 2024)