Postdoc in Digital Activism

The Department of Digital Design and Information Studies within the School of Communication and Culture at Aarhus University invites applications for a postdoctoral position in digital activism. The postdoc position is affiliated with the research project SHAPE - Shaping Digital Democracy funded by Aarhus University.

The postdoc position is a full-time and fixed-term position. The position begins on 1 September 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. The position ends on 31 December 2023.
The School of Communication and Culture is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their personal background.

SHAPE

SHAPE - Shaping Digital Democracy is Aarhus University’s newly established centre, which aims to promote digitalisation that supports democracy and citizenship. Based on an interdisciplinary research agenda, SHAPE will provide knowledge that qualifies the public and political debate by informing decision-makers, legislators and other relevant actors, and will deliver concrete technologies, methods and guidelines that support digital citizenship. SHAPE builds on a strong Scandinavian tradition of research in democracy and information technology (IT) and combines critical perspectives on IT with action-oriented approaches based on citizen involvement in the development of IT. SHAPE investigates how the digital citizen is defined and managed partly in the welfare state and partly on the tech giants’ social media platforms. In addition, SHAPE’s purpose is to develop digital citizenship by focusing on activism and citizen-engaged IT development. Through interaction and cross-fertilisation between several sub-projects, SHAPE will provide a holistic understanding of the digital citizen and digital citizenship, which is highly needed in a Danish and international context. 

Postdoc position

The position will be part of the work package: Digital Activism. Whether corporate or state-controlled, the digitisation of the citizen often gives rise to opposition, critique and search for alternatives beyond a focus on maximising profits or immediate convenience. Digital activism is here understood as software and network-related practices (including digital art) that address mass digitisation itself, including power asymmetries, societal issues and social injustices in a broad sense (rather than the use of digital media as a means for activism or participation in social movements). Examples include when citizens choose non-commercial Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), encrypted search engines, or self-hosted servers and applications; when they develop new tools and services that draw attention to or circumvent mass digitisation; or simply when they choose to opt out. A distinctive feature of a sustainable democracy is its ability to accommodate such activism that questions the normalisation of digital technology and imagines better or more inclusive futures. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how digital activism understands and potentially contributes to the development of digital citizenship.

Against this background, we are looking for applicants to deliver individual postdoc projects under the auspices of the work package in digital activism, while contributing to SHAPE’s collective task of developing insights into digital citizenship. The proposed project should address research and practice in digital activism, and provide knowledge of one or more of the following areas:

• the formation of digital citizenship within diverse practices of digital activism
• DIY self-hosted servers, networks and applications as forms of activism
• digital activism in relation to platform culture
• digital activism in relation to experimental publishing and making publics

Deadline: 07 June 2022