Precision and Uncertainty in a World of Data

Thank you for your support and contribution to our Seminar this semester. We will see you in the spring.

Sawyer Seminar: Precision and Uncertainty in a World of Data

The Sawyer Seminar on Precision and Uncertainty in a World of Data is organized by the Departments of Anthropology and the History of Medicine and the Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Throughout its two-year run (2019-2021), the Seminar will explore questions around what kinds of ethical and social issues are new about our Big Data moment, what has carried over from the past, and what kinds of methods and approaches might help us extend our understanding of this moment’s specificity.

On this website, you can find more information about the Seminar directors and staff, our schedule of events, notes on our past events, and resources that help explore data and society. We hope for this website to serve as an archive for what we have learned over the course of the Seminar, as well as a gateway for resources on data and society that will outlive the Seminar’s run. We encourage you to check out our latest events, projects, and commentary below:

Sponsor Institutions:

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• 10/30-10/31 Concepts and Data: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
  Concepts and Data: An Interdisciplinary Workshop brought together scholars from the fields of anthropology, philosophy, political science, and computer sciences, to explore a range of questions regarding the epistemological and social consequences of… Read more “10/30-10/31 Concepts and Data: An Interdisciplinary Workshop”
• 9/18/20 Spyware and Predictive Policing: The Merging of Historic and Big Data
  Discussion Notes by Heba Islam New York Times Bureau Chief for Mexico Azam Ahmed and Johns Hopkins Sociology Instructor Dr. Stuart Schrader, in a discussion moderated by… Read more “9/18/20 Spyware and Predictive Policing: The Merging of Historic and Big Data”
• 10/1/20: Interview with Sawyer Seminar’s Dr. Jeremy Greene
  Interview by Heba Islam This interview with Sawyer Seminar Director Dr. Jeremy Greene is based on the recent publication of his co-authored article, “Innovation on the Reservation:… Read more “10/1/20: Interview with Sawyer Seminar’s Dr. Jeremy Greene”
• 6/29/20: Interview with Canay Özden-Schilling about Reservoir Hill/Bolton Hill self-quarantine response team
  Sam Gomes interviews Canay Özden-Schilling about her neighborhood’s self-quarantine response team.
• 6/17/2020 COVID/DATA: Surveillance, Privacy, and Accountability
  DISCUSSION NOTES BY CANAY ÖZDEN-SCHILLING: Our first virtual event after the pandemic’s onset explored issues around the ethics of data collection during COVID-19. We were fortunate to… Read more “6/17/2020 COVID/DATA: Surveillance, Privacy, and Accountability”
• 3/6/2020 Sense, Sentience, Sensors
  DISCUSSION NOTES BY CANAY ÖZDEN-SCHILLING: This workshop attended to the design and deployment of sensors that populate the world around us, charting the territory from quantified environments… Read more “3/6/2020 Sense, Sentience, Sensors”
• 2/24/2020 The Data Environment and the New University
  DISCUSSION NOTES BY CANAY ÖZDEN-SCHILLING: This timely conversation drew a big interdisciplinary crowd from all around campus—from faculty, to librarians, to undergraduate students—interested in how the new… Read more “2/24/2020 The Data Environment and the New University”
• 2/12/2020 The Mathematics of Accountability
  DISCUSSION NOTES BY CANAY ÖZDEN-SCHILLING: Our first event of the semester, featuring Tufts University’s Moon Duchin and Georgetown’s Kobbi Nissim, gathered our biggest crowd yet. Our first… Read more “2/12/2020 The Mathematics of Accountability”

Header Images (Art Works) Credit:

Rachel Ara. “This Much I’m Worth (The Self-evaluating Artwork): Korean Version” in Vertiginous Data at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea. Photo taken by Sumin Myung.

Sylvee Kim. “Trinity: Finance-Credo-Spirituality” in Vertiginous Data at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea. Photo taken by Sumin Myung.

Danilo Zamboni. “PerspectivischeExplosionszeichnung” in Zugang für Alle: São Paulos Soziale Infrastrukturen at Pinakothek der Moderne, München, Germany. Photo taken by Sumin Myung.

Nam June Paik. “Video Chandelier No. 1” at Nam June Paik Art Center, Seongnam, South Korea. Photo taken by Sumin Myung.

Soyo Lee. “TV Garden: Notes” in Ecological Senses at Nam June Paik Art Center, Seongnam, South Korea. Photo taken by Sumin Myung.