STS @ YorkU

This Wednesday I'm giving a virtual talk at the Institute for Technoscience & Society at York University @stsyorku.bsky.social ! Info on how to register is here: www.yorku.ca/research/its...

Do Artifacts Have Political Economy? - Kean Birch, 2025 Harking back to Langdon Winner's now classic essay “Do artifacts have politics?,” my aim in this article is to ask a very similar question—namely, do artif...

I have a new article out: "Do artifacts have political economy?" It's a riff on an old argument by Langdon Winner about the embedding of politics in technology

#STS #sociology #technoscience #technology #innovation

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Demystifying Publishing Landscapes for Early Career Researchers: A Reflection on the ECR Panel at EASST/4S Amsterdam by Sarah Rose Bieszczad and Pouya Sepehr

"Demystifying Publishing Landscapes for Early Career Researchers: A Reflection on ECR Panel at EASST/4S Amsterdam" published in EASST Review by Sarah Rose Bieszczad & Pouya Sepehr (w/ contributions from myself & Wolfgang Kaltenbrunner)

#STS #EASST

easst.net/easst-review...

New #CfP for a Special Issue from @sciasculture.bsky.social: "Co-creating Low-Carbon Transitions" edited by Sophie Nyborg, Julia Kirch Kirkegaard, Thomas Berker, Tomas Moe Skjølsvold & Gisle Solbu

#sustainability #STS #lowcarbon #transitions #cocreation

think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

For all those people out there thinking about writing ...

Killing the Digital Services Tax is a step backwards Canadian consumer are handing over billions of dollars in data assets each year to U.S. firms and receiving zero returns for it. That’s why we need a Digital Services Tax,

I have a new opinion piece out in the @thestar.com today: "Killing the digital services tax is a step backwards" (paywalled) - #Google extracts $b worth of #DataAssets from Canada each year, but #Canada gets nothing

#tariff #Trump #Carney #TACO #digitalservicestax

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Invitation Vienna STS Talks x IPW Talks by Kean Birch on May 08, 2025, 17:00-18:30

📆‼️‼️Join the cohosted #ViennaSTSTalk & #IPWLecutres by Kean Birch (York University) on Do Artefacts Have Political Economy? @univie.ac.at‼️‼️
🔽🔽🔽
sts.univie.ac.at/news-events/...

Information from the fellowship application page: "Research Fellowships (Application deadline on May 1 and December 15) Research Fellowships are for scholars who would like to conduct research in the collections of two or more Consortium member institutions. Research Fellows will be awarded a stipend of $1,000 plus $750 for use of each collection, $425 if the collection is less than 100 miles from another collection for which a stipend has already been awarded. Fellows typically receive between $2,500 and $5,000 depending on number and locations of collections used. How to Apply Late applications will not normally be accepted. All Fellowships: Applications must include an abstract limited to 150 words a single PDF file, single-spaced, in Times New Roman font, no smaller than 11 pt type with at least 1” margins: - Curriculum Vitae, limited to 3 pages - project description explaining the research project and how it will advance scholarship in the history of science, technology or medicine, limited to 6 pages - references cited in the project description, limited to 2 pages contact information for two recognized scholars who will be asked to submit letters of recommendation. We will send instructions to these scholars upon receipt of an application, but applicants should let their recommenders know to have a letter ready for submission. Letters are due 15 days after the application deadline."

Deadline approaching May 1st for the next round of research fellowships sponsored by the Consortium for History of Science, Technology & Medicine -- funding available for scholars to travel for research in library / archival collections of consortium members: www.chstm.org/news/apply-2... #HistSTM

If Data Is Accounted For, the United States Has a Trade Surplus with Canada Corporations such as Alphabet, Meta and Amazon have been extracting billions of dollars’ worth of data assets from Canada for years.

"If Data Is Accounted For, the #USA Has a Trade Surplus with #Canada"

New opinion from me for Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

#assetization #data #trade #tariff #tradewar #Trump #bigtech

www.cigionline.org/articles/if-...

New #Postdoctoral Job! I'm recruiting for multi-country project on research #metadata & evaluation - UK, Germany, France, and Canada. Funded by SSHRC under Open Research Area 8 initiative. More info: www.yorku.ca/research/wp-...

#research #metascience #researchevaluation #universities #metrics

@tru-uoft.bsky.social @4sonline.bsky.social @sthv.bsky.social @yorkuphil.bsky.social @yorkulaps.bsky.social @yorku-cian.bsky.social @dighr-yorku.bsky.social @torontosri.bsky.social @ihpst-uoft.bsky.social

Institute for Technoscience & Society - Institute for Technoscience & Society Upcoming! ITS In-person Talk Welcome to the Institute for Technoscience & Society! Our goal is to create a global hub of critical and interdisciplinary research and information about the relationship ...

ITS in-person Talk @ #YorkU (Kaneff 519): Prof Michael Richardson (UNSW, Australia) on "Computing the Planet: Images and Imaginaries" #sts #compute #Earth #Toronto || More info: www.yorku.ca/research/its/

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Just out! Article on "Architectures of #assetization: Legacy infrastructures and the configuration of #datafication in UK #highereducation" w/ @jkom.bsky.social & Sam Sellar in New Media & Society #platforms #edtech #digital #bigtech

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Come join us for in-person film showing!

"Becoming the Butterfly" - a film screening & roundtable on brain injuries.

10th April @ 6.30-8.30pm (details below)

Not streamed, but video will be posted

Next week! @keanbirch.bsky.social is giving lecture on "Rise of the Tech Oligarchy" as part of the inaugural Richard A. Jarrell Fund Science, Technology & Society talks

When: Tues, 25 March @ 3-4.30pm
Where: Osgoode Hall IKB 1006, YorkU Keele

Registration: natssts.apps01.yorku.ca/machform/vie...

Go see how many of your publications have been used to train #Meta's #artificialintelligence systems!

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Medicine without Doctors) at The University of Edinburgh Explore an exciting academic career as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Medicine without Doctors). Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

🚨Job Klaxon🚨

Seeking a post-doc for 5.5 years (!) on our brand new @medicinewithoutdoctors.org project!

The candidate will be working with @cathm.bsky.social and the wider team to lead on playful, design-based methodological collaboration.

Deadline 31 March 2025

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMD146/p...

Job Openings

Lots of great positions at @mpifg.bsky.social, pls share!
- 2yr postdoc in wealth research
- 2yr postdoc in technology & sovereignty
- 3+3yr senior researcher in political economy
- 3+3yr senior researcher in economic sociology
- tenure/director-track group leader digitalization & society

Indigenous Studies Response to York’s Suspension of their Program Dear Dean McMurtry, Provost Peters, and President Lenton, As two Indigenous studies administrators (Dr. Chris Andersen is the Dean of the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and Dr....

Supportive academics & community members! Please sign this Google Docs letter b4 March 10.

Written by Chris Andersen, Dean Faculty of Native Studies UAlberta & Rob Innes, Chair, Indigenous Studies, McMaster U. in support of #Indigenous Studies at #York U, which administrators propose cutting.

We’re celebrating "Maraña" by Lina Pinto-García (MA ’14, PhD ’20, STS, #YorkU) with an engaging discussion!

📢 Chair: Denielle Elliott
🎙 Speakers: Aryn Martin, Drew Belsky & Luis Van Isschot

📅 Mar 4 | ⏰ 10 AM | 📍 York U | 💻 Hybrid

🔗 Register: rb.gy/qryzik

Undermining competition, undermining markets? Implications of Big Tech and digital personal data for competition policy - Kean Birch, ‘Damola Adediji, 2025 Many countries and jurisdictions are reforming their competition policies in response to growing political and public concerns about market concentration, espec...

Just out! My new paper w/ @damolaadediji.bsky.social on #bigtech #personaldata and #competitionpolicy in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social ||

"Undermining competition, undermining markets? Implications of Big Tech and digital personal data for competition policy"

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Call for papers: "Tech Oligarchy" Forum by @sciasculture.bsky.social

#bigtech #sts #oligarchy #Trump #ElonMusk

think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

#CfP Call for Papers: Exploring Solutions to the Challenges of Our Time: A Positive Turn in Economic #Sociology? Mid-Term Conference of the European Sociological Association #ESA Research Network “Economic Sociology”.

📌 Apply by 1 May 2025.

➡️ www.weizenbaum-institut.de/news/detail/...

No more political activism, just boot licking.

@technis4.bsky.social webinar (Tue. 25th of Feb), Conor Douglas, York University, Toronto: "How social pharmaceutical innovations are addressing problems of availability, accessibility and affordability of drugs for rare diseases". To join please visit technisnet.org/seminars/

@zevedi.bsky.social @cais-research.bsky.social @hiigberlin.bsky.social @udkberlin.bsky.social @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social @fokuspublic.bsky.social

New research from Institute for Technoscience & Society Director Kean Birch on implications of #bigtech and their control over our #personaldata on competition policy