Our next kitchen session will address a methodological problem that was articulated during our discussion with Louise Amoore, namely the problem of black boxes. Louise has argued that in the era of algorithms opening black boxes – the default methodological strategy in STS – will no longer do: many research objects in the field are not boxes, they are not black, and opening them is not necessarily the best way of engaging with them. So, what do we do?
The problem seems new, but versions of it have already been addressed in STS. In our next session, we’ll discuss a classic text: ‘Upon opening the black box and finding it empty‘ by Langdon Winner. The session will take place at the usual place (PEG 3G 204) at the usual time (18.00-20.00) on the 8th December.
I’d like to join this event this week – would that be OK?
I’m an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Chair of Work Sociology (based around the corner in PEG 3G 107). Broadly I study how people learn outside institutional and organisational structures. At Frankfurt I am working on an ethnographic study of learning practices within crowdwork platforms focusing on microwork and online freelancing – attempting to open up the black box of learning so to speak within these radically distributed and fragmented settings.