2024 > About

About

Registration

Registration is now open. Please click on your selected location to register. Registration deadline: 3rd June 2024.

Situating Data Practices Beyond Data Universalism

  • 5th International Data Power Conference, 4th – 6th September 2024
  • Online and in person in two locations: International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), India and the University of Graz, Austria.

Call for PhD Colloquium abstracts:

We invite doctoral students to submit abstracts for the Doctoral Colloquium at the upcoming Data Power Conference. This colloquium provides a unique opportunity for emerging scholars to present their research, engage in discussions, and receive valuable feedback from experts in the field. 

The Data Power Conference focuses on exploring the multifaceted dimensions of data power and its implications across various disciplines. This year’s conference is co-hosted by University of Graz and International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B). The colloquium will be held in-person at the University of Graz and at IIITB.

Doctoral students are encouraged to submit abstracts that are related, but not limited to this year’s conference theme “Situating Data Practices Beyond Data Universalism”. 

Submission Guidelines:

  • Abstracts should be between 450-500 words.
  • Clearly state your research question, methodology, and key findings (if applicable).
  • Provide a brief overview of the theoretical framework or conceptual underpinnings.
  • Highlight the significance and contribution of the research to the field of Data Power.

Important Dates:

  • Abstract Submission Deadline: 8 April 2024 
  • Notification of Acceptance: 26 April 2024
  • Pre-workshop info and preparation work
  • Conference Dates: 4th – 6th September 2024
  • The colloquium will be held in-person at the University of Graz and at IIIT-Bangalore. Attendees will be expected to travel to Graz or Bangalore. We will provide letters of acceptance in order to access institutional funding.

Submission Process:

Please send your abstract for Graz to jo.bates@sheffield.ac.uk and gwendolin.barnard@uni-graz.at , and for Bangalore to janaki.srinivasan@iiitb.ac.in and amitprakash@iiitb.ac.in as a .doc file indicating your application to the ‘Data Power Doctoral Colloquium’. 

Benefits of Participation:

  • Opportunity to present research to an interdisciplinary audience.
  • Engage in discussions with experienced scholars and peers.
  • Receive constructive feedback to enhance the quality of your doctoral research.
  • Networking opportunities with fellow doctoral researchers.
  • Hone your science communication skills

Contact Information:

For inquiries or assistance, please contact Jo Bates (jo.bates@sheffield.ac.uk) and Gwendolin Barnard (gwendolin.barnard@uni-graz.at).

We look forward to receiving your abstracts and welcoming you to the Data Power Conference Doctoral Colloquium at the University of Graz and at IIIT-Bangalore.

Main conference call for abstracts

*** EXTENDED ABSTRACT DEADLINE *** : 26th January 2024

Communication of acceptance: 15th March 2024
(*please get in touch if you need a decision earlier because of visa requirements)

Call for abstracts:

The Data Power Conference hosts critical reflections on data’s power and the social, political, economic and cultural consequences of data’s increasing presence in our lives, workplaces, and societies.

The 5th International Data Power focuses on situating data practices and looking ‘beyond data universalism’ (Milan and Treré, 2019). It aims to:

  • Situate data practices in the power relations that shape their creation and use in the world
  • Explore the importance of place, space, time and context in the making of data and the effects of data power
  • Examine the centres of data power and their infrastructures

In addition, the conference asks:

  • What constitutes rigorous methods when it comes to researching data power locally and globally?
  • To what extent does critical data power research need to focus on specific instances of data power in action?
  • What generalised critiques can be made from our field?

To facilitate dialogues across disciplines and with stakeholders, we welcome papers from interdisciplinary teams including disciplines incorporating aspects of data science, and papers which incorporate non-academic collaborators from a range of sectors.

As always, the Data Power Conference remains concerned with in/equalities, discrimination, questions of justice, rights and freedoms, and agency and resistance. We welcome papers that engage with these matters.

There will be a keynote speaker in each of the in-person locations, details to be confirmed.

Information on paper abstracts and proposals for making & doing sessions

  • Whilst we welcome papers and session proposals of all kinds, please note that this conference focuses on critical questions about data’s power and also papers that are critical and/or reflective with regards to the social and cultural consequences of the rise of data’s power.
  • We also welcome proposals for making & doing sessions. These should aim to share practical interventions, practices of doing data studies research and other types of engaged or participatory research or hands-on workshops (e.g. data walks, data sprints, counter mapping). These sessions will take place in-person only. Remote participation in them will not be possible. (See the 4S website for great advice on how to craft such sessions,).
  • Please submit a 250-300 word abstract for individual papers or making & doing sessions. Panel proposals should include a 250-300 word panel description + a 250-300 word abstract for each paper.
  • The deadline is 19th January 2024.
  • If you want to discuss special formats for paper sessions or making & doing sessions, please contact the organisers.

Information on conference attendance

  • It will be possible to participate EITHER remotely OR in-person in one of the two locations in which the conference will take place – Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP) at IIIT-Bangalore (India) and BANDAS Center & Department of Sociology at University of Graz  (Austria).
  • Building on our experience in collectively organising hybrid conferences, the conference will seek to be accessible across time zones.
  • Conference fee: A modest fee for conference participation will be charged. Further details will be available once registration opens. Researchers without institutional support may apply for a waiver.

Abstract submission:

You can submit your abstract via our abstract submission system from 1st November.

Organising committee:

References:

Milan, S., & Treré, E. (2019). Big data from the South (s): Beyond data universalism. Television & New Media. 20(4), 319-335.