Data and Life on Tenison Road

Abstract

What does the pervasive production and use of data mean for our everyday lives? What relevance might data have in ordinary life—to community, citizenship, democratic participation, government, etc.—those facets of social life that are (whether we like it or not) important to us all? The Tenison Road project is a year-long project aiming to explore precisely these questions. The goal is to understand data from the perspective of ‘the street’ by working, collectively, with one road in Cambridge and participating in different forms of data-related activities. In this talk, Alex Taylor (Microsoft Research) will present some ways he and project team have been experimenting with collecting, representing and using data that is locally relevant, and describe how they are directed at exploring new possibilities for collective participation, civic engagement, democracy, etc. and ultimately making a difference to daily life on 'the street.

 

Speaker's Biography

Alex Taylor is a sociologist working at Microsoft Research Cambridge. He has undertaken investigations into a range of routine and often mundane aspects of everyday life. For instance, he's developed what some might see as an unhealthy preoccupation with hoarding, dirt, clutter and similar seemingly banal subject matter. Most recently, he’s begun obsessing over computation and wondering what the compulsion for seeing-data-everywhere might mean for the future of humans and machines.  web: http://ast.io twitter: @alx_tylr 

 

The event is free to attend but registration is required. To book your place please click on the online registration link on this page.

 

For administrative enquiries please contact Michelle Maciejewska.