Repurposing media for collective inquiry: notes from the Public Data Lab
2nd April 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM BST
Repurposing digital media for collective inquiry – notes from the Public Data Lab (2017-2025)
The Public Data Lab was founded in 2017 as an interdisciplinary network exploring what difference the digital makes in attending to public problems. It aims to develop materials and formats for collective inquiry with and about digital data, digital methods and digital infrastructures.
This talk will provide a walkthrough of a smorgasbord of projects and publications undertaken with the Public Data Lab, including around “fake news” and misinformation, air pollution, tax justice, climate denial, COVID-19 testing, conspiracy cultures, fact-checking, data journalism, nature-based solutions, political bots, forest fires, forest restoration, ecological listening, diasporic solidarity and collective identity formation.
It will reflect on what we have learned from these cross-institutional, interdisciplinary collaborations, highlighting the role of social sciences, arts and humanities research in repurposing digital media for collective inquiry.
Speaker Biographies
Jonathan W. Y. Gray is Director of the Centre for Digital Culture and Reader in Critical Infrastructure Studies at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. He is also co-founder of the Public Data Lab and Research Associate at the Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) and the médialab (Sciences Po, Paris). He has taught with the School for Poetic Computation in NYC. More can be found at jonathangray.org.
Liliana Bounegru is Senior Lecturer in Digital Media, Culture and Society at the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London. She is also co-founder of the Public Data Lab and affiliated with the Digital Methods Initiative in Amsterdam and the médialab, Sciences Po in Paris. More about her work can be found at lilianabounegru.org.
