Activities

Meet us at inspirational events focused on digitalization, culture and society, presented by expert researchers and professionals from outside the research sector. This page provides an overview of the academic activities available to DIGIT-participants.

Writing retreat with DIGIT
Dec
11
to Dec 13

Writing retreat with DIGIT

Writing retreat with DIGIT 

Would you like to participate in a three-day workshop focused on academic writing?

The aim of this retreat is to bring participants together in a quiet environment to concentrate exclusively on scientific writing. The program will include dedicated time for active writing as well as peer-to-peer discussions in groups. Each participant will also receive personalized feedback on their text from the course leaders.


Writing Retreat

at Rømskog hotel

When: 11-13 December 2024

Application deadline: 15 October 2024

Application: https://nettskjema.no/a/441078. Please note, your place is not reserved until you here back from us. We have limited capacity (12 spots).

Prerequisites: A paper draft (2000-4000 words), kappa draft or similar must be submitted in English or a Scandinavian language by Desember 2 at the latest. Please upload your draft here: https://nettskjema.no/a/441079


The writing retreat is open for DIGIT members only. All reasonable costs (economy travel up to 2500 NOK and full board at Rømskog Spa and Resort) will be covered.


Content 

The workshop is structured to provide you with dedicated and uninterrupted time for individual writing. In addition to focused sessions for drafting your text, the workshop will include peer-to-peer feedback sessions, walk-and-talk discussions, and personalized feedback from the course leaders. Participants will be organized into smaller writing groups, where you will present your paper to your colleagues and the course leaders. You will also serve as a discussant for the work of your fellow group members.

To maintain focus, we ask all participants to fully commit to the entire program and refrain from external obligations during the days.

The workshop will be led by Marit Haldar from OsloMet and Kari-Steen Johnsen from the Institute for Social Research in Oslo.

Please scroll down to view the preliminary program.


Preliminary program 

 Wednesday December 11

10:45: Departure bus from OsloMet/Bislett (Bislettveien 3) via Lillestrøm

11:15: Departure bus from Lillestrøm (Scandic Lillestrøm, Stillverksveien)

13.00 – 14.00: Arrival at Rømskog and lunch 

14.00 – 14:15: How to give constructive feedback 

14.15 – 16.00: Group work with paper presentation, discussion and feedback 

16.00 – 16.30: Snack break 

15.30 – 19.30: Writing-session 

19.30: Dinner 

 

Thursday December 12 

07.00 – 09.00: Breakfast  

09.00 – 12.00: Writing-session 

12.00 – 13.00: Lunch 

13.00 – 17.00: Writing-session 

17.00 – 17:30: Snack break 

17:30 – 19.00: Walk and talk/spa and talk with writing partners 

19.00 - 19:30 Appertiff

19:30 - Dinner

 

Friday December 13

07.00 – 09.00: Breakfast 

09.00 – 11.00: Writing-session 

11.00 – 12.30: Feedback and evaluation 

12.30 - 13.30: Lunch

13:30: Departure, bus to OsloMet via Lillestrøm

14:50 Arrival Lillestrøm (Scandic Lillestrøm, Stillverksveien)

14:20 Arrival OsloMet/Bislett (Bislettveien 3, Oslo)

  


Course leader 

Marit Haldar is professor of sociology at OsloMet and the director of DIGIT. Throughout her research-career she has been concerned with ideology and cultural analysis of childhood, old age, gender, family and (social) technology. She has also studied marginalized subjects in the welfare state and inequalities in treatment in the health care system from an ideological perspective. Haldar has broad and long experience with most qualitative methods and has developed new methods that are discussed in highly regarded international method literature (see Silverman, D. 2011, "Interpreting qualitative data", 4th ed. London: Sage). She has held courses in qualitative methods and writing courses at least once a year since 2011 and has extensive experience in providing feedback on texts in both the humanities and social sciences. 

Course leader

Kari Steen-Johnsen works as a Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo.

She is a political sociologist, who is interested in the conditions for democratic participation in the broad sense, emphasizing the consequences of digitalization and social media. Her research includes themes such as political mobilization and organization, citizen’s news use and political knowledge, as well as public debate and the freedom of speech.

Methodologically, Steen-Johnsen has used both survey methods and qualitative interviews, and she has also led projects using digital trace data.


Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator should you have any questions.

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The World as a Testbed — Online Reading Group
Sep
27
to Oct 31

The World as a Testbed — Online Reading Group

The World as a Testbed — Online Reading Group

There is a general trend in industry and research to make society “AI ready” which also became an important concern in government. This is often accompanied by an accelerated implementation of AI into different societal settings and governmental operations itself, in which fast implementations and real-world scenarios became the testing ground for such technologies. But how do we study those new and fast innovation movements and its impact on society from an STS and social science perspective?

Over three online meetings we will read several of Noortje Marres’ work on the societal impact of tech testing and trials as well as some supporting articles which her work draws from. In the final meeting Marres will join us online.

The group is organized in collaboration with the TIK center at the University of Oslo, and it is part of this years TIK 25 anniversary.


Online Reading Group

When:

  • Sep 27 - Session 1 - 14:00-15:00 Introduction

  • Oct 11 - Session 2 - 14:00-15:00 Theory / Concepts

  • Oct 28 - Session 3 - 14:00-15:00; AI and testing with Noortje Marres

Where: Zoom

Registration: https://nettskjema.no/a/443562

Who is it for? The reading group is primarily for participants of the DIGIT research school. However, unless there is an overwhelming turnout, it is open to others as well. 


Content 

There is a general trend in industry and research to make society “AI ready” which also became an important concern in government. This is often accompanied by an accelerated implementation of AI into different societal settings and governmental operations itself, in which fast implementations and real-world scenarios became the testing ground for such technologies. But how do we study those new and fast innovation movements and its impact on society from an STS and social science perspective?

Since it can be challenging as a social scientist to study the changes that occur in our research field, we thought to initiate a research group and discuss such problems with Noortje Marres, Professor in Science, Technology and Society in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick. She has written extensively on issues of digital technologies and testing

In this reading group we want to get better acquainted with Marres´ work on the societal impact of tech testing and trials. Over three meetings we will read several of Marres articles, as well as some supporting articles which her work draws from. In the final meeting Marres will join us online. Here she will provide a brief introduction to her work and address any questions we may have."


How do I participate?

Sign up through the link above to receive a zoom invitation and ascribed literature. Then, read the assigned texts, and prepare some reflections on how these readings can illuminate your own field of study/empirical material (if applicable). We know that people come from different disciplines and might have little or no knowledge of Marres work from beforehand, but this is open for everyone and should be a space for intellectual exploration. So tag along!


Program and readings

1. Session; Introduction (27.09, 14:00-15:00)

                Orit Halpern (2019) The Planetary Test

                Marres (2020) Put to the test: For a new sociology of testing

 

Additional reading;

Marres (2017) How to think sociologically about the digital society?

Grill (2022) Constructing Certainty in Machine Learning: On the performativity of testing and

its hold on the future.

 

2. Session; Theory / Concepts (11.10, 14:00-15:00)

Marres (2024) How tech trials test society: trials of implicitness (innovation eco-systems)

 

Additional reading;

Rouvroy (2013) The end(s) of critique

                Star (1989)

 

3. Session; AI and testing with Noortje Marres (TBA: most likely a date between 28.10-01.11)

Marres (2024) AI as super-controversy: Eliciting AI and society controversies with an extended expert community in the UK

 

Additional reading;

Louise Amoore (2023) Machine learning political orders

                Baumer et.a. (2024) Algorithmic Subjectivities


Goal of the reading group

  • Get acquainted with the work of Noortje Marres

  • Learn methods and approaches to studying the digital through an STS and sociological perspective.

  • Learn how to study digital technologies "beyond the laboratory" and the diverse forms of testing in societal settings as critical interfaces between science, engineering, nature and society.


Contributor

Noortje Marres

Noortje Marres is a Professor in Science, Technology and Society in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick.

Organizers

The reading group is organised by Tanja Knaus and Torjus Solheim Eckhoff, both PhD candiates at the TIK centre, in collaboration with DIGIT, and it is part of this years TIK 25 anniversary.


Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator should you have any questions.

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Qualitative Method (SP9100)
Jun
3
to Jun 5

Qualitative Method (SP9100)

Qualitative Method (SP9100)

Data production, applied theory, and analysis strategies. How do we make it all fit together well? This course will provide a solid orientation on some traditions and approaches that are referred to as qualitative research and their epistemological basis.


Qualitative Method (SP9100)

When: June 3-5 2024, and on day in the autumn

Where: OsloMet, Norway

Registration deadline: May 1

Language: Norwegian

Registration and full description: https://www.oslomet.no/studier/sam/phd-sam/kvalitativ-metode-sosialfag-phd

ECTS: 10

Course leaders: Marit Haldar and Wenche Bekken


Travel and accommodation

DIGIT members can apply for funding for travel and accommodation to attend the course. You can send in your application here: https://nettskjema.no/a/322611.


Ranking of applicants

Qualitative Method (SP9100) is part of the OsloMet course catalogue.

In the event of receiving more applications than available spots preference will be given firstly to candidates enrolled in the doctoral program in social sciences at OsloMet, followed by candidates affiliated with the DIGIT Research School, candidates from other programs at OsloMet and finally Ph.D. candidates from institutions outside of OsloMet.


About the course

Read the full course description here: https://www.oslomet.no/studier/sam/phd-sam/kvalitativ-metode-sosialfag-phd

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Conference: eKommune 2024 - Human and Technology
Apr
18
to Apr 19

Conference: eKommune 2024 - Human and Technology

Conference: eKommune 2024 - Human and Technology

How will technology, as part of the solution to major societal challenges, impact people and the interaction between us? This is one of the topics at the eKommune conference on April 18-19.

Would you like to attend the conference? KS, partner in DIGIT research school, is sponsoring two spots at this year's conference!


Foto: Dag Tynes

Date: April 18-19, 2024

Location: Clarion Hotel The Hub in Oslo

Apply for a place:  https://nettskjema.no/a/404886

Deadline for application: Feb 26

Language: Norwegian

The offer is open for DIGIT members only


About eKommune 2024

eKommune is the most important meeting place for anyone interested in digitization, transformation, and innovation in the municipal sector. More and more public and private services are being digitized, and artificial intelligence as part of technological development is increasingly affecting us in new ways. How does this affect task execution – and citizens, employees, and leaders in the public sector?

In 2024, the conference will be held on April 18-19 at the Clarion Hotel The Hub in Oslo city center. Participation is also possible online.

Read more about the conference and this year's program here: https://www.ks.no/fagomrader/digitalisering/styring-og-organisering/ekommune-2024-menneske-og-teknologi/

The text above is taken from the KS website.

About KS

The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) is the organisation for all local governments in Norway. KS is Norway’s largest public employer organisation.

Financial Support

The conference fee is covered for two DIGIT members by KS. For DIGIT participants residing outside Oslo, DIGIT will cover travel expenses. You are responsible for booking your own flight/train tickets in accordance with your university's guidelines and the Personnel Handbook for State Employees. We cover up to 2000 NOK for travel.


Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator if you have any practical questions.


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Final Seminar for Class of 2022-2024
Apr
8
to Apr 9

Final Seminar for Class of 2022-2024

DIGIT invites the DIGIT class of 2022 to a final seminar at the historic Granavolden Hotel & Guesthouse. The seminar is organized by the DIGIT members themselves and marks the conclusion of DIGIT's inaugural class!

Final Seminar

When: April 8-9, 2024

Where: Granavolden Hotel and Guesthouse

Registration: https://nettskjema.no/a/393935 (Deadline: February 9)

About the seminar

The program will comprise a two-day event with presentations from speakers inside and outside academia, group discussions, social activities and delicious food from the area.  Day 1 will involve sessions on surviving in academia and transitioning to non-academic roles, as well as a discussion and a walk and talk before the dinner. Day 2 will involve breakfast, short presentations, group discussions focusing on the future use of DIGIT, and a concluding discussion and feedback session before lunch.

See full program here: PDF

We start at lunch day 1 and will depart for Oslo after lunch day 2.

DIGIT covers travel and accomodation costs for our members.

About Granavolden

Granavolden Hotel & Guesthouse is beautifully situated on a hill in the distinctive landscape of Hadeland, only about an hour’s drive from Oslo or a 50 minute drive from Oslo Airport, Gardemoen.

The hotel is located on historic ground, and there has been a guest house at Granavolden since 1657.

Organisers

Martine Stecher Nielsen

DIGIT member and PhD research fellow at NTNU

Nielsen has an educational background in public and global health and moved to Norway from Denmark in 2018. Equality in health and health care drives her professional interest and she focuses on how digitalization can be used to support and empower patients. Her doctoral thesis assess’ how patient portals can be used for adolescents in mental health care.

Alejandro Miranda-Nieto

DIGIT member and former postdoc fellow at OsloMet

Miranda-Nieto is a sociologist with interests spanning home, migration, mobilities and social practice. His research uses ethnography and other qualitative and quantitative methods to study social change. He is currently researching how migrant professionals working in IT industries develop a sense of home in the city of Oslo.

Miranda-Nieto has recently transitioned from a postdoc position to Head of academic unit Service organization and innovation in social work and child welfare at OsloMet.

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3-day academic writing retreat with DIGIT
Feb
13
to Feb 15

3-day academic writing retreat with DIGIT

3-day academic writing retreat with DIGIT

Welcome to the writing retreat hosted by NORD university in Saltstraumen, Bodø! The retreat is designed to give you a break away from daily commitments to provide protected time for individual writing. We will be staying in a small hotel close to the tidal current, with excellent food and spectacular views of the Børvasstindan mountains.

Are you interested in joining the retreat? We only have 12 spots, please register your interest below!


Writing Retreat

at Saltstraumen Hotel

When: 13-15 February 2024

Registration deadline: 9 January 2024

Registration: https://nettskjema.no/a/388294 (Your place is not reserved until you hear back from us)

Prerequisites: A paper draft (2000-4000 words) must be submitted in English or a Scandinavian language by 1 February at the latest. Please upload your draft paper draft here: https://nettskjema.no/a/388297


The writing retreat is available to DIGIT members from the classes of 2022 and 2023. In the event of receiving more applications than available spots, our priority will be determined primarily by motivation and the perceived need for participation in the writing retreat.

DIGIT will cover economy travel and full board at the hotel.


Content 

The workshop is designed to give you a break away from daily commitments to provide protected writing time for individual writing. Besides time for active writing of individual draft papers there will be time for peer-to-peer feedback sessions, walk-and-talk, as well as receiving feedback and guidance from the course leaders.  

You will be allocated writing partners in groups of three. You present your individual work to your fellow colleagues and to the course leaders, and additionally act as discussant of the work of the two other group members.

The aim is to create an inclusive and safe social group dynamic, where we discuss each other’s work and inspire each other with engaged, constructive and respectful feedback. As the participants in the workshop will follow an all-day program, we require participants to join the complete program and put aside other commitments during the stay to protect the concentration and the time dedicated to our writing.  

The workshop will be led by Anne-Jorunn Berg and Robert Bye. Read more about their background below.

Scroll down to view the preliminary program.

About Bodø and Saltstraumen

Bodø is located just north of the Polar Circle in a Pite and Lule Sami area. The city is elected the 2024 cultural capital of Europe.

Saltstraumen is an impressive sight (see more at visitbodo.com or Wikipedia). We will be staying in the small Saltstraumen hotel close to the tidal current, with excellent food and spectacular views of the Børvasstindan mountains.


Preliminary program 


Tuesday 13. February

10:30                             Collective departure from Bodø airport

11.30 – 12.30                  Lunch

12:30 – 12:45                   Brief presentation and information               

12:45 - 13:00                   How to give constructive feedback  

13:00 – 15.00                  Group work with paper presentation, discussion and feedback

15.00 – 15.30                  Snack break

15.30 – 19.30                   Writing-session  

19.30                                Dinner

 

Wednesday 14. February

08:00 – 09:00                 Breakfast 

09:00 – 12:00                 Writing-session

12:00 – 13:00                   Lunch

13:00 – 14:30                   Walk and talk with writing partners – strongest maelstrom at 14:00

14:30 – 16:00                   Writing-session

16:00 – 16:30                  Snack break

16:30 – 19.00                  Writing session

19.00 -                             Dinner

 

Thursday 15. February

 08.00 – 09.00                Breakfast

 09.00 – 12.00                  Writing-session

12:00 – 13.00                   Lunch   

 13:00 – 15:00                   Group work discussion, feedback and evaluation

 15:00 - 15:30                    Collective feedback and evaluation         

 15:30                                 Collective departure to the airport                                  

 

 

  


Course leader 

Anne-Jorunn Berg is a Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Nord University. Her areas of expertise include Gender Studies, Science Technology Studies (STS), Feminist Theory, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Research Methods, and Postcolonial Theory. Berg's research focuses on areas such as methodology, ICTs, materialities, and gender. Her work is particularly concerned with knowledge production - especially scientific knowledge. She is interested in knowledge as a collective transdisciplinary project, the usefulness of thinking knowledge in the plural as knowledges, the strength of partial perspectives, material heterogeneity and the importance of situating our knowledge. Her research is inspired by the works of biologist and feminist science theorist Donna Haraway, with a particular focus on using Haraway’s concepts of "material semiotics" and "companion species” as tools for exploring lived life (human as well as non-human). Berg sits as the chairperson of the DIGIT board. 

Course leader

Robert Bye is an Associate Professor at Nord University at the Faculty of Social Sciences. He served as Vice Dean for Education from 2020 to 2021. Bye obtained his Ph.D. in science and technology studies from NTNU in 2008. His research has focused on use, user involvement and domestication of buildings and in building processes. Currently, his research interests are also focused on different aspects of knowledge and knowledge production and the role of large language models, as well as understandings of digitalization and technology in knowledge-intensive work. These topics are also reflected in his teaching in two master programmes at Nord university, Master of knowledge management and master’s in Social Analysis.


Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator should you have any questions.

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Writing retreat with DIGIT
Apr
17
to Apr 19

Writing retreat with DIGIT

Writing retreat with DIGIT 

Would you like to participate in a 3-day workshop dedicated to your academic writing? As a member of DIGIT, you are invited to join our very first writing retreat that will take place at the charming Jeløy Radio hotel in Moss. The idea is to come together in a quiet environment and focus entirely on our scientific writing. We will have time for both active writing and for peer-to-peer discussions in groups. Additionally, every participant will receive feedback on their paper from the course leaders. 

Are you interested in joining the workshop? We only have 12 spots for this retreat, so please register ASAP to save your place!


Writing Retreat

at

Jeløy Radio Hotel

When: 17 - 19 April 2023

Registration deadline: 8 March 2023

Registration: https://nettskjema.no/a/305372 (Your place is not reserved until you here back from us)

Prerequisites: A paper draft (2000-4000 words) must be submitted in English or a Scandinavian language by 3 April at the latest. Please upload your draft paper draft here: https://nettskjema.no/a/305375


The writing retreat is open for DIGIT members only. All reasonable costs (economy travel and full board at the hotel) will be reimbursed.  


Content 

This is a workshop designed to give the participants a break away from daily commitments to get protected writing time and to focus on their individual writing. 

The program is designed with allocated time slots for active writing where participants spend time on their individual draft paper. Since we have three days together, there will also be time for peer-to-peer feedback sessions and to receive feedback and guidance from the course leaders.   

As a participant, you will be allocated writing partners in groups of three. You present your individual work to your fellow colleagues and to the course leaders, and additionally act as discussant of the work of the two other group members.  

The aim is to create an inclusive and safe social group dynamic, where we discuss each other’s work and inspire each other with engaged, constructive and respectful feedback. Since the participants in the workshop will follow an all-day program, we require that participants join the complete program and put aside other commitments during the stay to protect the concentration and the time dedicated to our writing.   

The workshop will be led by Marit Haldar and Hilde Reinertsen. Read more about their background below.


Preliminary program 

 Monday 17. April 

 

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch 

14.00 – 14:15 How to give constructive feedback 

14.15 – 16.00 Group work with paper presentation, discussion and feedback 

16.00 – 16.30: Snack break 

15.30 – 19.30: Writing-session 

19.30: Dinner 

 

Tuesday 18. April 

07.00 – 09.00: Breakfast  

09.00 – 12.00: Writing-session 

12.00 – 13.00: Lunch 

13.00 – 17.00: Writing-session 

17.00 – 17:30: Snack break 

17:30 – 19.00: Walk and talk with writing partners 

19.00 - Dinner 

 

Wednesday 19. April 

07.00 – 09.00: Breakfast 

09.00 – 11.00: Writing-session 

11.00 – 12.30: Feedback and evaluation 

12.30 Snacks before departure

  


Course leader 

Marit Haldar is professor of sociology at OsloMet and the director of DIGIT. Throughout her research-career she has been concerned with ideology and cultural analysis of childhood, old age, gender, family and (social) technology. She has also studied marginalized subjects in the welfare state and inequalities in treatment in the health care system from an ideological perspective. Haldar has broad and long experience with most qualitative methods and has developed new methods that are discussed in highly regarded international method literature (see Silverman, D. 2011, "Interpreting qualitative data", 4th ed. London: Sage). Haldar has led courses in qualitative methods and writing courses at least once a year since 2011. She has extensive experience in providing feedback on texts in both the humanities and social sciences. 

Course leader

Hilde Reinertsen is a researcher at the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK) at the University of Oslo.

Reinertsen’s academic interests span from the relationship between knowledge and politics, and how different forms of knowledge production shape politics and society at large. She has investigated topics within the history of politics and public administration, the history of science, environmental history, development studies, energy, aquaculture, petroleum, evaluation and audit. She is the principal investigator of the research project “Evaluation Optics of the Nation State: The Past, Present and Future of Public Documentation” (EVALUNATION). This project builds on her former Phd project on the history of evaluation reports and how these are written, read and discussed in society. A key part of the research project and Reinertsen’s previous work is to develop an interdisciplinary method for document analysis that combines historical, rhetorical, sociological and digital methods with approaches developed within the field of Science and Technology studies.

Reinertsen has co-written the textbook Doing document analysis: A practice oriented method (SAGE Publishing 2020) with Kristin Asdal, which is an expanded version of the Norwegian original: Hvordan gjøre dokumentanalyse: En praksis-orientert metode (Cappelen Damm 2020).


Please feel free to contact the DIGIT coordinator should you have any questions.

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CEDIC Talks: Technological change as social practice - the case of video consultations
Feb
23

CEDIC Talks: Technological change as social practice - the case of video consultations

Welcome to the second edition of CEDIC Talks this spring semester, where we invite national and international researchers to hold open guest lectures on social and political consequences of digitization.

The Research Centre for Digitalisation of Public Services and Citizenship (CEDIC) is the host institution for the research school DIGIT. CEDIC has a monthly lecture series called CEDIC Talks, where they aim to broaden our knowledge and awareness about ongoing research in Europe about digitalization processes and their social consequences.  

The lectures are open, and both DIGIT members and others are welcome to participate. 

This Thursday, Dr Gemma Hughes presents findings from her research on video consulting in the UK during the covid-19 pandemic. Hughes is Senior Researcher in the Interdisciplinary Research in Health Sciences Group at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science, University of Oxford. She brings practical experience and knowledge of health services to her interdisciplinary research, which focuses on critically analysing the relationships between health and social care policy, practice and lived experience. 

Video consulting during the pandemic

Hughes has broad interests in how patients and the public interact with health and social care services and specific interests in how these interactions are shaped by the complexity of health and social care systems and technologies. In this talk, she will draw on research conducted during the pandemic to consider how adoption of technologies can be conceptualised as constituting social change. The talk is based on findings she presented, along with fellow researchers, in the recently published article "Theorising the shift to video consulting in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of a mixed methods study using practice theory" (2022) in Social science & medicine.

Read the article: Hughes, G., Moore, L., Maniatopoulos, G., Wherton, J., Wood, G. W., Greenhalgh, T. and Shaw, S. (2022) 'Theorising the shift to video consulting in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of a mixed methods study using practice theory', Social science & medicine (1982), 311, pp. 115368-115368.

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CEDIC Talks: The future of work and welfare in the digital economy - new risk of poverty and social exclusion
Jan
20

CEDIC Talks: The future of work and welfare in the digital economy - new risk of poverty and social exclusion

Welcome the semester’s first edition of CEDIC Talks.

The Research Centre for Digitalisation of Public Services and Citizenship (CEDIC) is the host institution for the research school DIGIT. It has a monthly lecture series called CEDIC Talks, where they aim to broaden our knowledge and awareness about ongoing research in Europe about digitalization processes and their social consequences.  

The lectures are open, and both DIGIT members and others are welcome to participate. 

New risks of poverty and social exclusion in Europe

In this edition of the lecture series, we join three Horizon2020 projects – EUROSHIP, EuSocialCit and WorkYP - when they give short, policy-oriented presentations of their findings on how digitalization of the labour market and public services affects EU citizens- opportunities to participate in in all realms of public and societal life and live a decent life in accordance with the prevailing standards in society.

Advances in digital technology and artificial Intelligence have sparked concerns about new risks of poverty and social exclusion in Europe. Since 2000, technology change has given rise to new forms of work and employment relations in Europe. The emergence of the platform economy means that customers are able to access providers of goods and services online. It is work based on the performance of individual tasks or projects rather than a lasting employment relationship. While it allows for flexible working hours it also comes with a risk of inconvenient and unpredictable working hours and low incomes. Alongside the growth of employment mediated through digital platforms there has been an expansion of digitalisation of welfare service provisions across Europe. More welfare state services provisions are restructured around digital communication and media infrastructures. Online technologies can enable a more inclusive delivery of public resources even in remote and rural areas. Digitalization, however, comes with a wide range of challenges. These range from the opacity of digital decision-making to digital divides that the utilization of ever more sophisticated technologies may cause between different groups in the population. While Covid-19 has been both a driver and barometer of success in the roll-out of digital welfare services, for those without the skills needed to access this shift online, or lacking the hardware or software to connect, the digital divide amplifies existing inequalities.

This seminar is aimed to consider the terms of such debate and delineate a way forward at both EU and national level.

Read more and register here (oslomet.no).

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Relevant course from our partners at the University of Oslo: TIK9015 – Practice-Oriented Document Analysis
Nov
21
to Nov 25

Relevant course from our partners at the University of Oslo: TIK9015 – Practice-Oriented Document Analysis

  • University of Oslo, Blindern campus, Niels Treschow's building, 12th floor (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Course from our partners at the University of Oslo.

TIK9015 – PhD course: Practice-Oriented Document Analysis

This PhD course brings together a varied set of methodological approaches to demonstrate and discuss how we can analyze documents as both text, artifact and social practice. Building on a recently published textbook, the course introduces the method of ‘practice-oriented document analysis’ (Asdal & Reinertsen, SAGE Publishing, 2022).

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CEDIC Talks: Digital welfare states or systems of digital inequality?
Sep
29

CEDIC Talks: Digital welfare states or systems of digital inequality?

We invite you to join the lecture by social policy professor Minna van Gerven from Tampere University on inequality and marginalization in digital welfare states. Digitalization, artificial intelligence, and new technologies have become central in how European welfare states evolve and the way they are governed. These technologies can open new horizons to meet existing social risks and make the administration faster and more cost-efficient. Yet, technological change can strengthen old divides and stir conflicts: technologies may extend the divides between different groups in society and give a rise to new societal problems by marginalizing groups of people.

CEDIC Talks aim to broaden our knowledge and awareness about ongoing research in Europe about digitalization processes and their social consequences. In this lecture, the social policy professor Minna van Gerven from Tampere University will discuss technological change as a modernization process of welfare states that may foster inequalities. She will draw attention to the politics and policies of digital welfare states in Finland and to the way the digitalization of welfare systems may uphold both visible and invisible inequalities.

Who is Minna van Gerven?

Minna van Gerven is professor in social policy at Tampere University. She has held various positions at various European universities, including University of Helsinki, University of Twente, University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on comparative social policy and welfare states, digitalization, and social security. Her work has recently been published in various international journals and publishing houses.

How do I join?

The 30-45 minutes lecture will be held in English and followed by a Q&A. After registering through the register form (nettskjema.no), we will send you a link to join the online lecture some hours before it starts. 

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Relevant course from our partners at the University of Bergen
Sep
12
to Sep 15

Relevant course from our partners at the University of Bergen

PhD-level course on «Qualitative digital methods for social scientists» at the University of Bergen

MET900 is a PhD-level course offered by the University of Bergen (UiB).

The course addresses how qualitative digital methods can inform research in the social sciences, including media and communications, anthropology, human geography, sociology, and political science. It will provide hands-on experience of using Qualitative digital methods, guidance on designing research using these methods, and an introduction to the interdisciplinary literature on the digital transformation of society. The course will also include a guidance and reflection on ethics in digital methodologies and strategies for preparing an application for the Norwegian Centre for Research Data for ethical approval of digital data.

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Past Events

Meet the Participants


The first class of young experts was enrolled in the autumn of 2022. The first semesters start with a joint kick-off seminar, concentrating on key perspectives within DIGIT’s thematic clusters. Both researchers and stakeholders from outside the research sector will be invited to present the latest developments, and every participant will meet in roundtable discussions and present their ongoing research projects.