Reimagining public values in algorithmic futures

REIMAGINE ADM research consortium studies how public values intertwine with algorithmic systems and futures. The novelty of the project lies in mobilising anthropological and sociological perspectives to examine how values are deployed in situated practices rather than in the abstract. We develop methods and comprehensive frameworks for exploring values in socio-technical systems, and study cases ranging from insurance, healthcare and energy to border control and activism. By focusing on people who build, promote and evaluate algorithmic systems, we examine alignments and tensions that reveal how values, including efficiency, autonomy, solidarity and openness, are prioritised, negotiated and contested.
The research process is arranged into three collaboratories – cases, methods and alternatives. With the term collaboratory, a neologism combining laboratory and collaboration, we emphasise the experimental and participatory nature of our work, which includes ongoing dialogue with stakeholders.

The research cuts across three themes to:
1) bridge and compare values in empirical cases;
2) challenge and operationalise them in action;
3) rethink and reimagine algorithmic futures.

By combining empirically informed and imaginative ways of addressing values, our work promotes societally sensitive understandings of algorithmic systems and futures.