How do norms, values, and institutional arrangements shape the production of scientific data? This seminar examines the moral economies of data production in science and technology, with particular attention to how norms, values, obligations, and institutional arrangements shape data practices. Drawing on historical and sociological studies of science, the course approaches data not as a neutral or self-evident resource, but as a socio-technical achievement embedded in concrete sites of practice.

At its core, the seminar is structured around a sustained empirical engagement with data-intensive scientific infrastructures, particularly through close reading of Bruno Strasser’s Collecting Experiments (2019). Building on the concept of moral economy introduced by Lorraine Daston (1995), and extended through studies of laboratories, scientific personhood, cooperation, and data infrastructures (Shapin 1988, 1991; Ophir & Shapin 1991), the course foregrounds the ethical, epistemic, and organizational dimensions of data work.

Weekly, each Monday 10.15 am to 12 pm

Rheinsprung 21, Sitzungszimmer U4.002