Sprinting with Data

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Sprinting With Data Tommaso Venturini [email protected] tommasoventurini.it University of Bath, Institute for Policy Research, 14 September, 2016 ‘Evidence and the Politics of Policymaking: where next?’

Transcript of Sprinting with Data

Page 1: Sprinting with Data

Sprinting With DataTommaso Venturini

[email protected]

University of Bath, Institute for Policy Research, 14 September, 2016

‘Evidence and the Politics of Policymaking: where next?’

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Thinking in the presence of the victim

"The critic is not the one who debunks, but the one who assembles. The critic is not the one who lifts the rugs from under the feet of the naive believers, but the one who offers the participants arenas in which to gather" (p. 246)Bruno Latour, 2004Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concernCritical inquiry, 30(2), 225-248

"We don’t know what a researcher who today affirms the legitimacy or even the necessity of experiments on animals is capable of becoming in an oikos that demands that he or she think “in the presence of” the victims of his or her decision. Of importance is the fact that an eventual becoming will be the researcher’s own becoming” (p.997)Isabelle Stengers, 2005The cosmopolitical proposalIn Making things public Atmospheres of democracy, 994.

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But who is the victim?

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EMAPS (EU project 2011-2014)Mapping Climate Change Adaptation

Venturini, Tommaso. 2010.“Diving in Magma: How to Explore Controversies with Actor-Network Theory.”Public Understanding of Science 19(3): 258–73.

Venturini, Tommaso. 2012.“Building on Faults: How to Represent Controversies with Digital Methods.”Public Understanding of Science 21(7): 796–812.

Venturini, Tommaso et al. 2014.“Climaps by Emaps in 2 Pages (A Summary for Policy Makers and Busy People in General).”Social Science Research Network (ID 2532946).

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Adaptation is delayed

A first set of disagreements concerns our images of the future:- how bad will be climate change;- how fast will it unfold;- where and who will it strike first.

• http://climaps.eu/#/map/mapping-cli-fi-scenarios-book-covers-with-landscapes-issues-and-personal-narratives

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Adaptation is dispersed

A second set of disagreements concerns the priorities of adaptation:- which regions will be more vulnerable- which sectors will be more affected;- which arrangements will make our societies more flexible or resistant.

http://climaps.eu#!/map/who-is-vulnerable-according-to-whom

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Adaptation is diffused

http://climaps.eu#!/map/distribution-of-adaptation-funds-by-risk-and-adaptation-strategy-in-bangladesh

A third set of disagreements concerns the boundaries of adaptation:- how will global warming will interfere with natural and social equilibria;- whether adaptation generates additional actions or merely re-labelling;- whether previous problems and opportunities are taken into account.

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Adaptation is opportunistic

http://climaps.eu#!/map/the-rise-of-adaptation-funding

A fourth set of disagreements concerns therefore the wealth of adaptation:- who will provide resources for adaptation and who will use them;- through which channels will these resources flow;- who will decide how to employ them and who will assess the results.

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The conundrum ofcontroversy mapping

Had we had a clear view of how the adaptation debate was organized, we could have sampled its actors or reach for the most relevant ones. But the fluidity of the adaptation debate offered no clear landmarks for navigation.We were trapped in a vicious circle: since we had no informants, we could not improve our understanding of the controversy and, since we had only a vague appreciation of the debate, we did not know whom to engage with.We were lost because isolated, and isolated because lost. Venturini, T., Munk, A., & Meunier, A. (2016). Data-Sprint: a Public Approach to Digital Research. (C. Lury, P. Clough, M. Michael, R. Fensham, S. Lammes, A. Last, & E. Uprichard, Eds.) Interdisciplinary Research Methods (forthcoming).

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A classic (but unrealistic) workflow

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A more realistic workflow

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And an even more realistic one

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The agile shift andhackathons and barcamps

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hackathons and barcamps

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3 things we like abouthackathons and barcamps

1. The heterogeneity of the actors involved(“full-stack” competencies)

2. The effort to convene participants physically

3. The “quick and dirty” approach (or “design to cost”)

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3 things we changed abouthackathons and barcamps

1. Data sprints are preceded by a long and intense work of preparation

2. Data-sprints are also generally longer and more structured than their antecedents

3. Data-sprints require a greater follow-up

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Enters the data sprint (Paris)

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Enters the data sprint (Oxford)

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Enters the data sprint (Milan)

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What’s in a data sprint

1. Posing research questions2. Operationalizing research questions into

feasible digital methods projects3. Procuring and preparing datasets 4. Writing and adapting code5. Designing data visualizations and

interface6. Eliciting engagement and co-production

of knowledge

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Who’s in a data sprint

• The issue experts/alpha users• The developers• The project managers• The designers• The sprint organizers

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Tommaso Venturini

Venturini, Tommaso, Anders Munk, and Axel Meunier. 2016.“Data-Sprint: A Public Approach to Digital Research”In Interdisciplinary Research Methods (forthcoming) eds. Celia Lury et al.

Munk, Anders Kristian, Axel Meunier, and Tommaso Venturini. 2016. “Data Sprints: A Collaborative Format in Digital Controversy Mapping” In DigitalSTS: A Handbook and Fieldguide (Forthcoming), eds. David Ribes and Janet Vertesi.

Venturini, Tommaso et al. 2015.“Designing Controversies and Their Publics”Design Issues 31(3): 74–87. tommasoventurini.it