Proceedings of the Weizenbaum Conference 2019: Challenges of Digital Inequality
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- ItemHow Privacy Concerns and Social Media Platform Use Affect Online Political Participation in Germany(Weizenbaum Institute, 2019) Lutz, Christoph; Hoffmann, ChristianDigital inequalities research has investigated who engages in online political participation, finding gaps along socioeconomic variables such as gender and education. Recent research has also highlighted how online platforms may facilitate political participation. Especially for multi-purpose platforms such as Facebook, where users are supposed to use their real names, issues of adequate self-presentation arise. The diversity of multiple audiences engenders privacy concerns, particularly when controversial political issues are discussed. We add to existing research on digital inequalities by focusing on privacy concerns as a critical construct. Using a survey of German Internet users, we test the effect of privacy concerns on online political participation. Unexpectedly, privacy concerns increase political participation. As privacy concerns are spread evenly throughout the population, they contribute little to the socioeconomic stratification of online political participation. Social media use, however, exerts a strong positive effect on political participation, and differs significantly among socioeconomic groups.
- ItemBig Data: Inequality by Design?(Weizenbaum Institute, 2019) Prietl, BiancaThis paper proposes to tackle the problem of digital inequality by introducing digital technologies of knowledge generation and decision-making to a feminist critique of rationality that is informed by discourse theory and intersectional perspectives on gender and gendered relations of inequality. Therefore, it takes a closer look at the epistemological foundations of Big Data as one prominent representation of digital technologies. While Big Data and Big Data-based results and decisions are generally believed to be objective and neutral, numeral cases of algorithmic discrimination have lately begged to differ. This paper argues that algorithmic discrimination is neither random nor accidental; on the contrary, it is - amongst others - the result of the epistemological foundation of Big Data - namely: data fundamentalism, post-explanatory anticipatory pragmatics, and anti-political solutionism. As a consequence, a critical engagement with the concepts and premises that become materialized in the design of digital technologies is needed, if they are not to silently (re)produce social inequalities.
- ItemSignaling Stigma: How Support Technology Induces Bodily Inequalities in Interaction(Weizenbaum Institute, 2019) Karafillidis, AthanasiosThis paper contends that support technologies and their relevant artifacts recast bodily relations and thereby produce differing bodies in situations. In this vein, it sketches three main forms of physical human-machine relations (substitution, augmentation, support) and then introduces the concept of signaling stigma that allows to observe the situated management of new technological markers of difference. It concludes with suggestions for further research building on this approach to uncover the interactional foundations for what might grow into manifest inequalities - beyond the still important issues of personal data rights and access to technology.
- ItemWhen do Companies Train Low Skilled Workers? The Role of Technological Change, Human Resources Practices, and Institutional Arrangements(Weizenbaum Institute, 2019) Wotschack, PhilipThe article investigates the role of technological change, HR practices, and institutional organizational differences in training participation of low skilled workers in Germany. By building on institutional theories four hypotheses are derived and tested. Regression analysis based on the IAB Establishment Survey (wave 2011 and 2013) show evidence that the training participation of low skilled workers is shaped by organizational characteristics in terms of advanced production technology, investments in EDP, organizational or technological innovation, institutionalized arrangements and HR policies. While the effects of technology and innovations are of short-term nature, institutionalized arrangements in terms of employee representations and formalized HR practices have an enduring effect: They are positively associated with both a higher likelihood of training investments in low skilled workers and higher rates of continuing training participation among low skilled workers in 2011 and 2013.
- ItemAn Interdisciplinary Exploration of Data Culture and Vocational Training(Weizenbaum Institute, 2019) Etsiwah, Bennet; Hecht, Stefanie; Hilbig, RomyIn this interdisciplinary paper we discuss the intersection of organizational data culture and vocational education and training (VET). Building on a preliminary definition of data culture and an explorative analysis of data-related value propositions in the German VET market, we analyze how VET providers address organizational challenges in the wake of big data and digitization that affect many of today’s organizations, regardless of their traditional industry. We argue that if organizations want to implement a data culture, their employees have to receive appropriate trainings that convey relevant skills and competencies.