Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research—Introduction

Abstract

This is an introduction to the special issue of “Ethics as Methods: Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research.” Building on a variety of theoretical paradigms (i.e., critical theory, [new] materialism, feminist ethics, theory of cultural techniques) and frameworks (i.e., contextual integrity, deflationary perspective, ethics of care), the Special Issue contributes specific cases and fine-grained conceptual distinctions to ongoing discussions about the ethics in data-driven research. In the second decade of the 21st century, a grand narrative is emerging that posits knowledge derived from data analytics as true, because of the objective qualities of data, their means of collection and analysis, and the sheer size of the data set. The by-product of this grand narrative is that the qualitative aspects of behavior and experience that form the data are diminished, and the human is removed from the process of analysis. This situates data science as a process of analysis performed by the tool, which obscures human decisions in the process. The scholars involved in this Special Issue problematize the assumptions and trends in big data research and point out the crisis in accountability that emerges from using such data to make societal interventions. Our collaborators offer a range of answers to the question of how to configure ethics through a methodological framework in the context of the prevalence of big data, neural networks, and automated, algorithmic governance of much of human socia(bi)lity

The Work of Art in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: What Artists Can Teach Us About the Ethics of Data Practice

“…The lack of attention on artists and the cultural sector in this burgeoning literature is surprising given that artists have historically deployed new technologies in unexpected and often prescient ways (Shanken 2002;Rieland 2014) and have been interpreted as vanguards: of new ideas, techniques, and cultural practices (Francastel 2000). In this paper, we focus on the ethics of digital art practice as a necessary addition to recent scholarship on ethics and digital technologies (Crawford and Schultz 2013;Dignum 2018;Markham, Tiidenberg, and Herman 2018). Artists engaging with data analytic tools and computational techniques can share their opinions on the ethical importance, impact, and implications of their projects, often without being beholden to particular companies or platforms.…”

“…Data ethics is itself a contested field of ethical enquiry (Johnson 2007;Markham, Tiidenberg, and Herman 2018;Barocas and boyd 2017), but a close relationship to computer science seemed to offer some artists a clearer lens through which to consider the ethics of their work (Maffesoli 1991). "Ethics have never been an easy part of the art work," Burrington pointed out, "but in some ways they might be more readily translated into this particular branch of the art world because there already is sort of a relationship to data ethics, and we have some kind of idea of what that looks like."…”

Theorizing Research Ethics for the Study of Psychological Phenomena from Within Relational Everyday Life

“…While these sets of principles, like the Nuremberg Code of Ethics or the Helsinki Declaration, marked a leap forward in ensuring research participants' human rights, they have also met with strong criticism from both the humanistic and the social sciences (e.g., Dingwall 2012;Emmerich 2016). This can both be related to the increasing proliferation and acceptance of qualitative research across fields of research (e.g., Roth 2005; see also Miller et al 2012;Unger et al 2016), but also to new digital possibilities to scrutinize (massive) amounts of (partly sensitive) data without the knowledge of the researched person(s) in question (e.g., Markham et al 2018).…”

Roboethics in education and society

“…It is heartening to see that academics and researchers themselves are raising issues about 'Doing Ethics in the Era of Big Data Research'. Markham, Tiidenberg, and Herman (2018), for instance, argue: a grand narrative is emerging that posits knowledge derived from data analytics as true, because of the objective qualities of data, their means of collection and analysis, and the sheer size of the data set. The byproduct of this grand narrative is that the qualitative aspects of behavior and experience that form the data are diminished, and the human is removed from the process of analysis.…”