[EASST-Eurograd] CfA: "Data Multiple" @ STS Graz 2026

[Fabian Pittroff via Eurograd]

Dear colleagues,

I would like to invite you to submit an abstract to the following panel at the STS Graz Conference, 4–6 May 2026.

*Data multiple: An inquiry into methodologies and ontologies of data* (ID 9)

Submit via conference website: https://stsconf.tugraz.at/calls/call-for-abstracts/
Deadline: January 27th 2026

After a decade of critical data studies (boyd/Crawford 2012; Kitchin 2014), research on how data is made and processed is as relevant as ever. LLM technologies and their dependence on data are just the latest chapter in this story. STS and their sensibility for practices of translation are well suited to advancing this essential field. With interests leaning towards larger amounts of quantitative data (e.g., 'big data'), scholars keep reminding the field of the value of smaller data sets (Borgmann 2015; Kitchin/Lauriault 2015) and everyday data practices (Kennedy 2018; Hepp et al. 2022; Feinberg 2022). The session aims to further advance the latter by broadening understanding on how data exist.

The concept of the 'data multiple' proposes that temporarily stable but mobile data objects (Latour 1990) exist as more than one but less than many (Mol 2002). Therefore, the session invites research on doing data through practice, including ways in which they are used across different situations (Bates et al. 2016) or relate to their locality (Loukissas 2019). The question is how this multiplicity of data can be studied, both conceptually and empirically. The session draws on theories of multiple ontologies (Mol 2002; Latour 2013), as well as new materialist informatics (Barad 2002; Klumbyte/Draudé 2025), but other approaches are welcome as well.

The session is open to research on any kind of data, explicitly including research data and its management. The session is particularly interested in small-scale, qualitative, non-digital, non-measuring, sensing, and more-than-human data practices. Accordingly, not only scientific, but also artistic and activist contributions are welcome. The organiser aims to facilitate an online conversation between accepted contributors before the conference so that the session becomes a continuation rather than a first meeting. Contributors are invited to participate in the format planning.

All the best,
Fabian


~ ~ ~
Fabian Pittroff
Postdoctoral researcher
SFB 1567 Virtual Lifeworlds
Ruhr-University Bochum

~ http://work.fabianpittroff.net 🪲
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