This paper identifies and addresses persistent gaps in the consideration of ethical practice in ‘technology for good’ development contexts. Its main contribution is to model an integrative approach using multiple ethical frameworks to analyse and understand the everyday nature of ethical practice, including in professional practice among ‘technology for good’ start-ups. The paper identifies inherent paradoxes in the ‘technology for good’ sector as well as ethical gaps related to (1) the sometimes-misplaced assignment of virtuousness to an individual; (2) difficulties in understanding social constraints on ethical action; and (3) the often unaccounted for mismatch between ethical intentions and outcomes in everyday practice, including in professional work associated with an ‘ethical turn’ in technology. These gaps persist even in contexts where ethics are foregrounded as matters of concern. To address the gaps, the paper suggests systemic, rather than individualized, considerations of care and capability applied to innovation settings, in combination with considerations of virtue and consequence. This paper advocates for addressing these challenges holistically in order to generate renewed capacity for change at a systemic level.
We present a methodology integrating social media data, data from qualitative research and network analysis. Qualitative insights gained from ethnographic fieldwork are used to collect and annotate social network data, and social media data is used as part of the ethnography to identify relevant actors and topics. The methodology is presented in the context of an analysis of the Internet of Things in the European context.
The ideal of unfettered data circulation has fallen into crisis. As of today, a growing number of actors are introducing measures to ensure a greater degree of control over the global data pipeline. Combining critical data studies and political theory, this article conceptualises the current technopolitical conjuncture as one of ‘planetary data turbulence’ in which divergences regarding the production and circulation of data have become the norm. The concept of data turbulence emerges from studies on data friction, but this article contends that the current state of affairs requires expanding the emphasis on technosciences and materiality in these works. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the article shows that attending to antagonism and discourse makes it possible to account for the eminently political forces shaping the circulation of data. The strengths of this framework are illustrated by looking at the articulation of digital sovereignty in different geographies.
Data collaborations have gained currency over the last decade as a means for data-and skills-poor actors to thrive as a fourth paradigm takes hold in the sciences. Against this backdrop, this article traces the emergence of a collaborative subject position that strives to establish reciprocal and technical-oriented collaborations so as to catch up with the ongoing changes in research. Combining insights from the modernity/coloniality group, political theory and science and technology studies, the article argues that this positionality engenders epistemic obedience by bracketing off critical questions regarding with whom and for whom knowledge is generated. In particular, a dis-embedding of the data producers, the erosion of local ties, and a data conformism are identified as fresh sources of obedience impinging upon the capacity to conduct research attuned to the needs and visions of the local context. A discursive-material analysis of interviews and field notes stemming from the case of astronomy data in Chile is conducted, examining the vision of local actors aiming to gain proximity to the mega observatories producing vast volumes of data in the Atacama Desert. Given that these observatories are predominantly under the control of organisations from the United States and Europe, the adoption of a collaborative stance is now seen as the best means to ensure skills and technology transfer to local research teams. Delving into the epistemological dimension of data colonialism, this article warns that an increased emphasis on collaboration runs the risk of reproducing planetary hierarchies in times of data-intensive research.
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