[open-humanities] Open Data Movements in the Age of Big Data Capitalism: WIAS seminar with Arwid Lund and Jonathan Gray

[Christian Fuchs]

Open Data Movements in the Age of Big Data Capitalism
Tue 16 May 2017
17:00 – 19:00
Organised by the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies
309 Regent Street
University of Westminster
London W1B 2HW

Registration:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-data-movements-in-the-age-of-big-data-capitalism-tickets-33995439274

A WIAS seminar with International Research Fellow Dr Arwid Lund and Open 
Knowledge Activist Dr Jonathan Gray

Big data has received a lot of attention in recent years, open 
data/knowledge less so, and the relation between open data/knowledge and 
the predominantly commercial big data sector even less so. This seminar 
aims at critically discussing and shedding light on the under-theorised 
field of open data/knowledge and its relation to capitalism.

In this WIAS seminar, Dr Arwid Lund reflects on his study of the 
ideological landscape underpinning the open data/knowledge movement 
(Open Knowledge London). Dr Jonathan Gray focuses on his own involvement 
in this movement and his forthcoming book Data Worlds: The new politics 
of information. The aim of the seminar is to introduce critical 
perspectives on open data/knowledge’s relation to capitalism, as well as 
a critical understanding of the political character that informs its 
advocates.

We will round the event off with a wine reception.

Dr Arwid Lund is a Lecturer at the Department of Arts and Cultural 
Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. Arwid is completing the second part 
of his WIAS fellowship from 3 April 2017 to 2 June 2017. During his 
fellowship, he will be working on how ‘openness’ is understood 
ideologically by advocates within the Open Knowledge Network. His aim is 
to identify the ideological landscape within this movement.

Dr Jonathan Gray is a Prize Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, 
University of Bath. He is also Research Associate at the médialab of 
Sciences Po and Tow Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, 
Columbia University. As Director of Policy and Research at the global 
civil society organisation Open Knowledge, Jonathan has founded and 
co-founded numerous initiatives, including the Data Journalism Handbook, 
Europe’s Energy, Open Data for Tax Justice, OpenSpending, Open Trials, 
The Public Domain Review and Where Does My Money Go?.