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Merging Citizens and Data: A Postphenomenological Investigation on Mediated Practices in Citizen Sensing

Walker, John (2021) Merging Citizens and Data: A Postphenomenological Investigation on Mediated Practices in Citizen Sensing.

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Abstract:Through examining Dustbox, a unique air quality sensor, and the program Citizen Sense, this thesis bridges the relations found within Postphenomenology into the realm of citizen science. From sensing practices, this thesis acknowledges the role of technology in shaping and mediating the methods, interpretations and data collection work of citizens who work with Dustbox. Moving from practices to the relations to data itself, the relational view of data is brought in as a way to understand how citizens relate to, understand and learn from the data they themselves gather. Within this conception of data, the postphenomenological account raises questions regarding how data as a technological artifact itself is shaped. The mediating role of technology in the relational view of data raises new questions about the possibility of how to understand hermeneutically mediated data from the relational framework. What is found within this discussion is twofold. One, that both the role of technology in shaping our interpretation and relation to data cannot go unrecognized. Second, that through the relational view, the work of sensing practices in citizen sensing becomes able to combine different imaginaries of data use, which in turn provide the necessary parts of both qualitative reports and experiential concerns.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:02 science and culture in general, 08 philosophy
Programme:Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society MSc (60024)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/87656
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