In this inaugural lecture, Anders will reflect on the trajectory of past research and offer pointers for the future. The lecture will proceed in three steps.

First, Anders will look back on a decade of work using computational methods to listen to – and visualize – publics that manifest themselves in arenas which do not fit dominant imaginaries of where the public belongs. By making their voices heard through a variety of digital infrastructures, these publics “stray” from their usual homes in public hearings or at the receiving end of a phone call with a pollster. Consequently, they inscribe themselves in formats that are difficult – yet important – to integrate into democratic processes.

Second, Anders will illustrate the potential of this democratic intervention in the context of urban planning. As people’s sensemaking of urban places becomes increasingly intertwined with digital technology, there is an opening for using language models, machine learning, and interactive data visualization to reinvent traditions of mental and subjective mapping. This can help develop a more situated perspective on the city and tap into the multitude of urban values circulating around specific urban issues—work best carried out in collaboration with citizens and the professionals tasked with designing and regulating the city.

Third, Anders will outline some visions for the future of computational methods within the social sciences and humanities. Rather than importing tools from other disciplines, he will suggest the need to build them with an outset in the epistemic contexts where they will be used—an undertaking that inevitably involves revisiting established quality criteria and normative guidelines for doing research.

The lecture will be followed by a reception hosted by IKL.

We hope to see you there!