Dis-obedience in Digital Societies: Perspectives on the Power of Algorithms and Data

Algorithms are not to be regarded as a technical structure but as a social phenomenon – they embed themselves, currently still very subtle, into our political and social system. Algorithms shape human behavior on various levels: they influence not only the aesthetic reception of the world but also the well-being and social interaction of their users. They act and intervene in a political and social context. As algorithms influence individual behavior in these social and political situations, their power should be the subject of critical discourse – or even lead to active disobedience and to the need for appropriate tools and methods which can be used to break the algorithmic power.

Sven Quadflieg, geb. 1983, studierte an der Folkwang Universität der Künste und der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. Er forscht zu politischer und sozialer Gestaltung bzw. zur wechselseitigen Beeinflussung und den Dependenzen zwischen Gestaltung und Gesellschaft und lehrte an diversen Hochschulen.

Klaus Neuburg, born in 1977, is a trained architect and professor for Media Design with a focus on Interactive Media at the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel. His work and research sits at the intersection between media, design and architecture, society and computer science, paying specific attention to social contexts. He is co-founder of the journalistic NGO Froh.

Simon Nestler, born 1983, is a professor for Human-Computer Interaction at Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. He studied computer science at the Technische Universität München and received his PhD in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. He researches and consults on UUX (Usability & User Experience) of government applications and is a member of the presidium of the Gesellschaft für Informatik, a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and of the German UPA.