Dear all,
We would like to invite you to DESI seminar by Prof. Elena Parmiggiani (NTNU)
When & Where: 3 June 2024 (Monday) @ 11:05-11:55 [Internef 237]
Title: In the backrooms of data science: Implications for AI in organizations
Abstract:
In this talk, I present my ongoing research on data work in data infrastructures. I problematize the tendency in the literature in Information Systems and technical fields to overlook the work involved in finding, preparing, and maintaining data so that they are available for further analytics. This work in the backrooms remains largely invisible in official accounts but is foundational for data science and the current development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in organizations. I will draw on my long-term engagement with the Norwegian energy industry to illustrate how such backstage data work is unruly, ongoing, bidirectional, and collaborative. It is qualitatively different but deeply interwoven with data analytics.
These insights have implications for the development and use of AI in organizations. AI is a tool part of a sociotechnical infrastructure of people and systems. It is highly dependent on practice, that is, on data that are continuously generated, combined, and (re)analyzed. I argue that the data work happening in the backrooms will be even more prominent in the future. Consequently, AI should be designed pragmatically to be integrated into an organization’s ecosystem by investing time and resources to support the invisible backstage expertise to prepare and maintain data.
Bio
Elena Parmiggiani is Associate Professor of Digital Collaboration and Vice-head of Department for Sustainability at the Department of Computer Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. In addition, she holds a 20% position as a senior researcher at Sintef Nord, Tromsø. She publishes her work mainly in Information Systems (IS). She studies the digital transformation of data management in infrastructures in different empirical domains, such as the energy sector (data science in practice, data work to feed AI), public agencies (Responsible AI), and food supply chains (data governance and traceability). She primarily adopts qualitative research methods.She has published her work in journals such as MISQ, JAIS, EJIS, CAIS, CSCW Journal, and SJIS, and recently co-edited a book about Digital Transformation in Norwegian Enterprises. She is Associate Editor in EJIS and the CSCW Journal and Editor in SJIS.
She has a PhD in Information Systems (NTNU, 2015) and an MSc in Computer Engineering (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy, 2010).
