[Commlist] CfA Big Data Discourses, Conference

*Call for Abstracts*

International Conference: *Big Data Discourses: Communicating, 
Deliberating, and Imagining Datafication*

**

Leipzig University, Germany

1–2 February, 2024

Please submit abstracts via email ((bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com)>) by 15 October 2023 (for further 
information go to 
https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses 
<https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses>).

---------------------------------------

**

*International Conference*

*Big Data Discourses: Communicating, Deliberating, and Imagining 
Datafication* Leipzig University, 1–2 February, 2024

Supported by the German Research Foundation

/Confirmed keynote speaker: Minna Ruckenstein, University of Helsinki/

Approaching datafication through discourse means to understand and to 
engage with the eminent reality-making power of communication, 
deliberation, and imagination. It foregrounds the work that goes into 
rendering datafication a socially relevant phenomenon and problem.

The conference sets out from the idea that the public understanding of 
datafication is driven by discourses in the media and among policymakers 
and the imaginaries they evoke. The event invites us to look at what 
datafication is or should be for a variety of publics and speakers and 
how they discuss, criticize, or envision the collection and use of data 
at different places, speaking from different situations, and at 
different times. That way, the conference does not merely interrogate 
the status quo of big data analytics. Rather, discourses also involve 
prospective ambitions and normative stances about potential, desirable, 
or unwanted innovations. The conference turns its attention to 
discourses whose programs of thought actively shape the social 
constitution of Big Data and translate into practices, organizational 
forms, policies, and institutions. Discourses are in fact integral to 
how we come to engage with datafication.

Inquiring into the semantics, interpretations, and cultural values that 
prelude, accompany, and surround investments and innovations into Big 
Data requires by definition interdisciplinary work. This includes, among 
others, critical data studies, STS, sociology, communication, 
linguistics, political science, cultural studies, geography and 
education, as well as security studies and gender studies.

By taking the understanding of datafication as a matter of contingent 
articulation, the conference helps to dismantle claims about the given 
and irrevocable facticity of data formats and data analytics so as to 
explore ways of reimagining their status and implications. In doing so, 
it seeks to gain leverage in critically examining how datafication’s 
social imaginations are shaped and to enable alternative readings.

The conferenceis open to theoretical and empirical approaches. Due to 
the variety of paradigms, we believe that it is necessary to work across 
disciplines and embrace an international perspective. It invites senior 
as well as emerging scholars to contemplate the entanglement of 
discourse and technology.

Contributions can address, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

·Deliberation, policymaking processes, and datafication

·Rhetoric and metaphors of dataism

·Datafication imagery and visuals

·Critiques of dataveillance and data colonialism

·Non-Western voices on global and local form of data exploitation

·Media reports and (data) journalism on data analytics

·Discourses around data analytics in fields such as education, health, 
policing, welfare, etc.

·Visions and anticipations of future data usage

·Fictions and works of art engaging with data and data analytics

·Domestication of data-driven services and technologies

·Folk theories around datafication and people’s algorithmic imaginaries

·Critical studies of data analytics’ marketing material and business talk

·Self-presentation of actors from data-rich sectors

·Data feminism

·Data scandals and the performance of whistleblowers as public figures

·Narratives and counternarratives around datafication

The conference will take place at the Department for Communication and 
Media Studies at Leipzig University, Germany. It is supported by the 
German Research Foundation.

*Submission Guidelines*

Abstracts must be submitted via email ((bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com)>) by 15 October 2023. Submissions 
must contain a front page with all information about the author(s) as 
well as an anonymized extended abstract (max. 500 words excl. front page 
and bibliographical references).

*General Information*

The conference will begin on Thursday, 1 February 2024 and end on 
Friday, 2 February 2024 at noon. For updated information concerning the 
program, registration, accommodation, and travel, please visit our 
website 
https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses 
<https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses> The 
registration fee is 100 Euro.

*Key Dates*

15 October 2023:          deadline for abstract submissions

1 November 2023:        notification of acceptance

1 December 2023:        publication of conference program

1 to 2 February 2024:   conference

*Organizers and Contact*

Prof Christian Pentzold and Dr Charlotte Knorr

Email: (bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(bigdatadiscourses /at/ gmail.com)>

Web: 
https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses 
<https://www.sozphil.uni-leipzig.de/international-conference-big-data-discourses>

*Conference Venue*

Department of Communication and Media Studies, Leipzig University, 
Nikolaistrasse 27-29, 04109 Leipzig, Germany


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