As part of Data Cities conference, Disruption Network Lab presents a programme of four workshops.

Workshop 1: Smash your filter bubble!

With: Leonardo Sanna (PhD Fellow, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, IT) and Salvatore Romano (Graduate student in Social Psychology, University of Padova, IT) of the tracking.exposed project.

The Tracking Exposed collective project empowers users to gain knowledge of tracking and profiling that determine the information we receive in data market and under the influence of proprietary algorithms. In this workshop, they introduce the browser extension Youtube.Tracking.Exposed, aimed at the study of YouTube filter bubbles. Participants learn how to install the extension and how to use it to collect evidence of their own filter bubble. The group also performs a collective algorithm observation using the collected data of the video suggestions from YouTube. The simple test enables participants to analyze the results comparing their personalisation with the rest of the group, thus learning a methodology to produce evidence about tracking and algorithm analysis. Data visualization (like Gephi, Tableau and R..) is used to provide a graphic representation of the experiment. Check some previous collective observations of the YouTube and Pornhub algorithms to get an idea!

Workshop 2: Visualizing Control – A Critical Mapping Workshop

With: River Honer (Web Developer at Expedition Grundeinkommen, Anti-Capitalist Tech Activist, Member of Anti Eviction Map Project, US/DE).

River Honer uses technology as a means to advance the cause of socialism, either by using it to treat the symptoms of capitalism, or to facilitate organising for the public ownership of housing, utilities, transport, and the means of production. In this workshop the participants learn how to apply different spatial data visualization methods to data about ticket controller locations on the Berlin U+S Bahn. The workshop goes into details about the methods of collecting and visualising geospatial data, using real data from the “Avoid Control” twitter bot. Participants also work together and experiment with different ways of showing this data on a map of Berlin.

Workshop 3: Reuse, Recycle, Repair – Hacking waste management for the smart city

With: Felipe Schmidt Fonseca (Activist, Free/Open Advocate and Researcher, OpenDoTT project, BR/DE).

Reducing consumption and reusing materials contribute decisively to prevent the generation of waste. As well as the obvious environmental benefits, the reuse through repair, re-circulation and upcycling has positive social and economic outcomes for society at large. However, smart city projects seldom take into account the reuse of materials as part of their solutions for waste management. This workshops tries to advance the idea of a reuse commons and discuss what would be its implications in terms of data generation and governance, decision-making and privacy.

Workshop 4: Citizen manifesto on data cities

With: Elizabeth Calderón Lüning (Associate Researcher, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Research Group Inequality & Digital Sovereignty. DE). Concept: Fieke Jansen (PhD Candidate at the Data Justice Lab, NL/UK).

Cities are at the forefront of trying out new solutions to old and emerging problems. Sensors, cameras, wifi tracking, satellite and drone imaging are used to increase data collection about human behavior and the environment to try and tackle wicked urban problems around transport, environment, security and crowd management. As a result the use of technology is slowly creeping into our streets and neighborhoods, without much public debate. This workshop explores the urban challenges and proposed technology solutions to develop the values we find important in our social contract and develop a manifesto of a citizen vision of a data city.