Call for Abstracts
Big Data and the Democratic Process
Edited by Kevin Macnish (University of Leeds) and Jai Galliott (University of New South Wales)
Please distribute widely - short abstracts due 28 July 2017.
With the recent election of Donald Trump in the US and the Brexit vote in the UK, the role of data analytics has come to the fore in thinking about the appropriate means and ends of collecting and using personal data in democracies. While this is nothing new (Barack Obama famously used data analytics to a similar end), the effectiveness of these technologies and techniques appears to have reached new highs. Recent reports also suggest that it is the super-rich, with political agendas that may extend across national boundaries, underpinning big data companies. At the same time, the challenges to democratic society presented by data analytics are not limited to the party political process. The Snowden revelations included claims that vast quantities of internet data were being collected by the UK, US and other intelligence agencies with the goal of uncovering patterns of behaviour that might indicate security threats. Artificial intelligence based on assessments of large data sets are increasingly being tested for parole boards and in predictive policing, leading to concerns that people may soon be apprehended for 'pre-crime'. Furthermore, while many in society have a degree of control over at least some of the data they share, others who rely on welfare do not but must share openly with the state to receive support. What does a big data state imply for the underprivileged or those on the fringes of society? Are there reasonable democratic limits that can be placed on the employment of big data depending on the collection, storage, processing or use of that data?
Abstracts pertaining to the above topics are welcomed for inclusion in this proposed volume. Subsequent papers must be philosophically rigorous but accessible to policy makers and upper-level students. Possible themes and topics might include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:
• Data analytics and domestic security: mass surveillance?
• Reactive and pro-active uses of big data in policing
• Pre-crime in the age of big data
• Data analytics and electioneering
• The influence of big money on big data and politics
• Big data vs advertising to the electorate: a quantitative or qualitative change?
• Data analytics and the welfare state
• Collecting data of the underprivileged – care or control?
• Google DeepMind and the Royal Trust Hospitals – benefit or exploitation?
• The relationship between states and corporations in the employment of big data
• Democratic limits on collection/storage/processing/use of data
• Codes of ethics for democratic approaches to big data
• Any other relevant topic (we're open to suggestions)
Submission Guidelines & Notes:
1. Submission deadline for abstracts (300 words) and author bios (no more than 100 words): 28 July 2017. Late submissions will not be accepted.
2. Selected abstracts will be reviewed by the editors and forwarded to Routledge for potential inclusion in the Emerging Technologies, Ethics and International Affairs series.
3. Authors will receive a response roughly 12 weeks after the closing date for submissions.
4. Tentative submission deadline for drafts of accepted papers (6,500-8,500 words): mid 2018.
5. All submissions (in Word format) and inquiries should be directed to [log in to unmask], cc'ing [log in to unmask]
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