Lecture: The Metric We. On the Quantification of the Social

Lecture in the current ITeG lecture series "Digital society - a design task".

Whether it's education, health or consumption: data is now being collected on pretty much every aspect of our person and our behavior. Step by step, a society of stars, scores, likes and lists is emerging in which everything and everyone is constantly measured and evaluated. This begins with the annual university ranking, extends to the Quantified Self movement of fitness enthusiasts who compare their best times with each other via the Internet, and ends with the evaluation of the efficiency of political measures. This talk discusses the techniques and technologies of this sociometry against the backdrop of digitization and new forms of data extraction. The rating systems of quantified society, he will argue, do not simply map inequalities in the world, but are ultimately instrumental in the distribution of life chances.

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Steffen Mau, HU Berlin

Further information: https://www.uni-kassel.de/eecs/iteg/veranstaltungen/vortragsteffenmau