Purple Code – With Milagros Miceli

Abstract

What is participatory research, and how hard is it to navigate disciplines like sociology and computer science at the same time? Dr. Milagros Miceli – a sociologist and a computer scientist – is from Argentina and currently based in Berlin. Her research on data work is widely known to provide rich empirical evidence on the abysmal working conditions of click workers and content moderators in Germany, Argentina, Syria, Kenya and Bulgaria. Milagros leads the research group ‘Data, Algorithmic Systems, and Ethics’ at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society. She is also a research fellow at the DAIR Institute, where she is currently investigating ways to engage communities of data workers in AI research. This episode with Milagros takes us on a journey of her love for her work, but also the struggles that it brings along. She goes on to talk about issues like credibility, acceptance and recognition as a pioneering researcher in a field that is finally getting the attention it deserves, but at the cost of balancing it as a woman, migrant, and mother of two.