Ethics of Big Data

Ethics of Big Data's image
Created: 2016-10-24 08:50
Institution: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
Description: The Ethics of a Data-Driven Society (2016-17)

In 2015-16 the Ethics of Big Data Faculty Research Group held a number of seminars and workshops addressing the ethics and politics of 'doing' big data, with an emphasis on the practice of big data research and technology, and the ethical issues raised in the course of the research. In 2016-17 we will address wider questions of The Ethics of a Data Driven Society.


Themes:

Big Data and the Future of Work

In Michaelmas Term (2016) we will explore how Big Data is reshaping the worlds of work, production and employment. We will analyse whether the promise of 'on-demand' production and automated logistics drives the agenda for the 'big data' economy; explore the expanding role of the algorithms in task allocation and performance management for the quantified workplace as well as the impact of device proliferation, ubiquitous connectivity and the rise of social media on surveillance and profiling of employees.

Big Data and the Environment

In Lent Term the focus will be on Environment, specifically issues around environmental sustainability of data infrastructures, and the use of data in managing sustainability, examining how both aspects feed into the discussions of 'ethics' in a data driven world. We will look at the use of data in conservation, and also at energy consumption of data infrastructures, energy efficient data centres, broader issues of sustainability (including resource use, cooling, and recycling of electronic waste).

Big Data and Knowledge

Finally, in Easter Term we will explore the impact of data driven narratives on concepts of knowledge and on the organisation of knowledge production. Issues here include the impact on scientific research of a drive towards open publication of data, the limits of a quantitative view of the world (and the politics of its current primacy in 'big data' narratives over a qualitative one), and the range of views around the importance of data literacy.

Administrative assistance: gradfac@crassh.cam.ac.uk
Website: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/programmes/ethics-of-big-data-research-group
 

Media items

This collection contains 3 media items.

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Media items

Ethics of Big Data - 14 November 2016 - The Quantified Self at Work

   2,419 views

Dr Phoebe Moore (University of Middlesex)

Technologies to track work and productivity have a long history, starting with Frederick Taylor's scientific management and Frank and...

Collection: Ethics of Big Data

Institution: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Created: Mon 21 Nov 2016


Ethics of Big Data - 17 October 2016 - Surveillance and Employment Relations in a Data-Saturated Society

   27,731 views

David Renton (Barrister, Garden Court Chambers)


What are the implications for relations between employers and workers of living in a society where passive and active forms...

Collection: Ethics of Big Data

Institution: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Created: Mon 21 Nov 2016


Ethics of Big Data - 31 October 2016 - Managed by an Algorithm? The rise of ‘on-demand working’ and the ‘Gig Economy’

   1,988 views

Dr Ala'a Shehabi (The Work Foundation)
Valerio de Stefano (Bocconi University, Milan. International Labour Organisation)

Abstracts

Big Data underpins the operation of...

Collection: Ethics of Big Data

Institution: Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Created: Wed 2 Nov 2016