By Sabina Leonelli
Data have been at the centre of the pandemic response, in terms of which data are being collected, how they are being analysed and compared, and which inferences are being drawn from them. There has also been a strong emphasis on the use of Artificial Intelligence in procuring and interpreting data; data simulations to produce reliable predictions; and increasingly aggressive regimes of surveillance being implemented around the world in the name of data gathering. Based on my extensive work on the philosophy of data modelling and use, I am working on a series of papers addressing these issues, and have given several talks on the subject of data use in the COVID-19 era, including: (1) A webinar on COVID-19 data modelling for the History on Call expert platform of the Max Plank Institute for the History of Science, March 2020 (in English and in Italian); (2) A webinar on “Science and Technology Studies Approaches to COVID-19 ”, including experts on pandemics and data justice from Science & Technology Studies, April 2020; (3) A keynote address (in Italian) for the Annual Meeting of Italian ESCO TECH Forum to discuss the role of data science in re-thinking the future of post-COVID-19 digitalisation in the energy sector, May 2020:
