How do we make sense of a world increasingly run by algorithms?

In this highly topical panel discussion to launch “powerful new book” (New Books Network) ‘Mapping Crisis: Participation, Datafication and Humanitarianism in the Age of Digital Mapping’ published by the University of London Press, an expert panel analyses the increasing use of data to govern, control but also- mislead.

In moments of crisis we often turn to data in an attempt to both understand the situation we are in, and look for answers of how to escape.

Yet 2020 has also highlighted the dangers of this. The interpretations and collection of this data are not without their problems – doctors and politicians looking at the same data can draw wildly different conclusions about the right course of action.

From COVID-19 to the US election, join host Prof Damien Short (ICwS, UoL), Doug Specht (Westminster), Faine Greenwood (Harvard), Richard Allan (Regulate Tech, formerly Facebook), Amy Dickens (Essex), and Rupert Allan (independent) to discuss what a ‘Big Data’ society might look like and how we are at a crossroads in our understanding and capacity to use datafication for good.