The project’s cross-country perspective gives us a unique opportunity to compare and think across empirical cases in Europe. Rather than working according to work packages that would divide up the work into different streams, we cross-fertilise the research from the very beginning by arranging the research process into three collaboratories: fieldwork, maps and alternatives. With the term “collaboratory”, a neologism combining “laboratory” and “collaboration”, we underline the collective and exploratory nature of our work.
Fieldwork focuses on cataloguing, bridging and contrasting public values in empirical cases. The aim is to work with the empirical cases that project members are studying (and have already studied) and compare them to other potentially interesting cases. Researchers will collate data from the various cases and coordinate the analysis to ensure that the disparate teams have shared questions and research objectives.
Maps uses “digital methods” to detect and map different deployments of values in large textual data which spans the cases. The aim is to develop techniques for comparing and synthesising empirical cases and promoting interactions with stakeholders and the larger public. The Maps team draw on their own and others’ experiences in mixed methods projects and in using digital methods to map public debates and to provoke dialogue between researchers, stakeholders and various publics.
Alternatives develops new vocabularies and trajectories for recognising algorithmic futures and roles for values in algorithmic systems. The aim is to build on the work of the other collaboratories to propose a new vocabulary of concepts and metaphors which address tensions and highlight alternative constellations of values.