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Biography [eng]

Martin Berg is Professor of Media Technology and Associate Professor of Sociology. His research interests include digital sociology as well as critical studies of algorithms and automation processes.

Biography [swe]

Martin Berg är professor i medieteknik och docent i sociologi vid Malmö universitet. Hans forskning kretsar kring digital sociologi, med särskilt fokus på kritiska studier av algoritmer och automatiseringsprocesser.

Publications (10 of 39) Show all publications
Berg, M. (2024). Duct-tape solutionism and click-level bureaucracy in public automation: Repairing for emergent futures (that might not come). In: : . Paper presented at 11th joint conferens of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), Making and doing transformation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 15-19 July 2024.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Duct-tape solutionism and click-level bureaucracy in public automation: Repairing for emergent futures (that might not come)
2024 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Sweden is increasingly considering the possibility of automating public administration. Data-driven process automation is believed to help make administrative tasks more efficient and goal-driven. However, implementing these systems, or preparing for their implementation, involves a transformation in organisational practices and principles. These practices are adapted to imaginaries of automation technologies, often stemming from the digital industries. When the organisational logic of public administration clashes with the promises of emerging automation technologies, new organisational forms and temporalities take shape, here referred to as click-level bureaucracy and duct-tape solutionism.

Based on digital ethnographic research with stakeholders from approximately ten Swedish municipalities, this paper explores how these new organisational forms and temporalities take shape. Two central and interrelated ideas anchor this exploration. Firstly, the future will necessitate automation to prevent the public sector from collapsing as it is perceived as dysfunctional and in need of repair. Secondly, we must prepare for an automated future by transforming today's work forms and routines to be compatible with machine communication when needed.

The interaction between these two lines of thought reveals that preparations involve constant repair work, yet these efforts are rarely deemed satisfactory. Instead, they become temporary, makeshift solutions that continually defer the anticipated future. In this sense, repair becomes a form of future-making where the future is persistently delayed, making it a perpetually moving target while at the same time building up a new form of bureaucracy that requires novel competencies and forms of management that necessarily involves representation from the digital industries.

National Category
Media and Communication Technology Human Aspects of ICT
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-70511 (URN)
Conference
11th joint conferens of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), Making and doing transformation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 15-19 July 2024
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977
Available from: 2024-08-21 Created: 2024-08-21 Last updated: 2024-08-23Bibliographically approved
Berg, M. (2024). Improvised Futures: Understanding ’Duct-Tape Solutionism’ in Swedish Public Sector Automation. In: : . Paper presented at 31st Nordic Sociological Association conference (NSA2024), Norrköping, Sweden 14-16 August 2024.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Improvised Futures: Understanding ’Duct-Tape Solutionism’ in Swedish Public Sector Automation
2024 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

In the realm of Swedish public administration, there is a growing recognition of automation as a fertile ground for innovation and efficiency. This paper, drawing upon ethnographic research with key stakeholders in Swedish municipalities, investigates how the public sector is responding to an anticipated demographic crisis, with a particular focus on the challenges presented by an ageing population. It critically examines the dual role of automation, especially Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Generative AI, perceived simultaneously as a comprehensive remedy and a makeshift solution. Central to this exploration are two predominant themes: firstly, the urgent necessity to rejuvenate the public sector through automation to prevent an impending collapse, and secondly, the need to adapt current work practices to an automated yet unpredictable future. This paper posits that automation represents a continuous journey of adaptation, rather than a definitive endpoint. This journey is metaphorically likened to ongoing repair work, where automation technologies function as flexible, 'duct-tape' solutions, continually extending the horizons of what is possible in public administration. The analysis delves into the transformative role of automation, arguing that its impact goes beyond the mere reduction of human labour. Instead, automation is seen as a catalyst for organisational change, promoting standardisation and challenging the entrenched norms of individualised work methods. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates how the use of metaphors related to breakage and repair can be used to understand the public sector's organisational transformation. It offers insights into how the anticipated futures of automation are shaping the future of public administration in Sweden, not just as a tool for efficiency, but as a key driver of organisational evolution and adaptation.

National Category
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology) Human Aspects of ICT Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-70513 (URN)
Conference
31st Nordic Sociological Association conference (NSA2024), Norrköping, Sweden 14-16 August 2024
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977
Available from: 2024-08-21 Created: 2024-08-21 Last updated: 2024-08-23Bibliographically approved
Fors, V., Berg, M. & Brodersen, M. (2024). Navigating automated futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact. In: Vaike Fors; Martin Berg; Meike Brodersen (Ed.), The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures: Imaginaries, Interactions and Impact (pp. 1-17). Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Navigating automated futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact
2024 (English)In: The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures: Imaginaries, Interactions and Impact / [ed] Vaike Fors; Martin Berg; Meike Brodersen, Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2024, p. 1-17Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

This introductory chapter presents an overview and a synthesis of the chapters in the The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures. Divided into sections on Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact, the handbook presents a research agenda that explores futures, automation, and change from social scientific perspectives. These sections serve as heuristic sites for reframing narratives on automation, investigating human and algorithmic interactions, and exploring engaging ways for the social sciences, humanities, and design to participate in shaping automated futures. The Imaginaries section deconstructs dominant narratives of automated futures, emphasising historical antecedents and ideological tensions. Interactions delve into the complex dynamics between humans and automated systems, highlighting strategies to infuse automation with human dimensions and promote inclusivity. Impact focuses on making automated futures sustainable and ethical, advocating for innovative methodologies and interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, this chapter offers insights into how the handbook can inspire into envisioning, understanding, and shaping automated futures in a playful and designerly manner. It encourages critical reflection, ethical engagement, and participatory approaches to ensure the development of inclusive, equitable, and sustainable automation futures.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2024
Series
De Gruyter Handbooks of Digital Transformation, E-ISSN 2940-7257 ; 2
Keywords
automated futures, imaginaries, interaction, impact, participatory approaches, design
National Category
Human Aspects of ICT Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-70721 (URN)10.1515/9783110792256-001 (DOI)9783110792256 (ISBN)9783110792249 (ISBN)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977
Available from: 2024-08-30 Created: 2024-08-30 Last updated: 2024-11-11Bibliographically approved
Fors, V., Berg, M. & Brodersen, M. (Eds.). (2024). The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures: Imaginaries, Interactions and Impact. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures: Imaginaries, Interactions and Impact
2024 (English)Collection (editor) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

How does automation affect us, our environment, and our imaginations? What actions should we take in response to automation? Beyond grand narratives and technology-driven visions of the future, what more can automation offer?

With these questions in mind, The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures provides a framework for thinking about and implementing automation differently. It consolidates automated futures as an inter- and transdisciplinary research field, embedding the imaginaries, interactions, and impacts of automation technology within their social, historical, societal, cultural, and political contexts. Promoting a critical yet constructive and engaging agenda, the handbook invites readers to collaborate with rather than resist automation agendas. It does so by pushing the agenda for social science, humanities and design beyond merely assessing and evaluating existing technologies. Instead, the handbook demonstrates how the humanities and social sciences are essential to the design and governance of sustainable sociotechnical systems. Methodologically, the handbook is underpinned by a pedagogical approach to staging co-learning and co-creation of automated futures with, rather than simply for, people. In this way, the handbook encourages readers to explore new and alternative modes of research, fostering a deeper engagement with the evolving landscape of automation. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2024. p. 464
Series
De Gruyter Handbooks of Digital Transformation, ISSN 2940-7249 ; 2
Keywords
Computer Sciences, Human-Machine Interaction, Political Science, Social Sciences, Sociology of Science Technology and Environment
National Category
Human Aspects of ICT Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-70514 (URN)978-3-11-079224-9 (ISBN)978-3-11-079225-6 (ISBN)
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977
Available from: 2024-08-21 Created: 2024-08-21 Last updated: 2024-08-30Bibliographically approved
Gruszka, K., Berg, M. & Engberg, M. (2024). There is no other place where I can talk about those thoughts…”: Creating spaces in "the now" for imagining digital (work) futures. In: : . Paper presented at EASA2024 Doing and Undoing with Anthropology, Barcelona, Spain 23-26 July 2024.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>There is no other place where I can talk about those thoughts…”: Creating spaces in "the now" for imagining digital (work) futures
2024 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

This paper discusses the "Collaborative Foresight" process, which is an initiative organized by the authors in partnership with Media Evolution, a Swedish organization based in Malmö. The foresight cycle in focus aimed to explore potential futures of work with emerging AI technologies by engaging a diverse group of experts and community members in forecasting and “futuring” activities, following the methodology offered by Media Evolution. The authors actively participated in this cycle, which allowed for a thorough examination of the methodologies utilized in such foresight exercises.

At the heart of our investigation is the dynamic tension between "future-makers" - those actively shaping possible futures, and "future-takers" - individuals adapting to these projected scenarios. Our study explores how the interplay and evolving tensions between these roles are influenced by the structure of foresight practice and the facilitator's practices. We investigate how this approach fosters a participatory environment where participants are encouraged to not only predict but also contribute actively to the creation of future work paradigms within the boundaries of the foresight cycle structure.

Our analysis focuses on the methodology of the foresight cycle, highlighting its role as a facilitative and inhibitory tool that requires participants to oscillate between the imaginative realms of future-making and the practicalities of future-taking. The research illuminates the importance of questioning initiatives such as collaborative foresighting and their role in shaping industry narratives about the future of work.

National Category
Media and Communication Technology Human Aspects of ICT
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-70512 (URN)
Conference
EASA2024 Doing and Undoing with Anthropology, Barcelona, Spain 23-26 July 2024
Available from: 2024-08-21 Created: 2024-08-21 Last updated: 2024-08-23Bibliographically approved
Berg, M. (2023). Digital teknografi: Att studera hur framväxande digitala teknologier försöker lära känna oss. In: Martin Berg; Maria Engberg; Sara Leckner (Ed.), Tekniska mediestudier: En introduktion till metoder och teknologier (pp. 55-80). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Digital teknografi: Att studera hur framväxande digitala teknologier försöker lära känna oss
2023 (Swedish)In: Tekniska mediestudier: En introduktion till metoder och teknologier / [ed] Martin Berg; Maria Engberg; Sara Leckner, Lund: Studentlitteratur AB, 2023, p. 55-80Chapter in book (Other academic)
Abstract [sv]

Vi anpassar oss ständigt till de medieteknologier vi lever våra liv med, men hur kan vi få kunskap om hur de får oss människor att agera på olika sätt? I det här kapitlet får du bekanta dig med digital teknografi, en metod för att studera och analysera framväxande digitala teknologier som sätter teknologierna och deras förväntningar i centrum. Kapitlet utgår från självövervakningsteknologier, företrädesvis ”smarta” smycken, men fungerar lika bra för tjänster som TikTok och Instagram. Du får veta mer om nyckelbegrepp för att analysera marknadsföringsmaterial av framväxande digitala teknologier. Genom detta lär du dig hur till synes oskyldiga mobilappar kan bli föremål för vetenskapliga studier, kritik och teoretiserande.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund: Studentlitteratur AB, 2023
National Category
Media and Communication Technology Media and Communications
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-61674 (URN)978-91-44-15523-4 (ISBN)
Available from: 2023-07-05 Created: 2023-07-05 Last updated: 2023-11-23Bibliographically approved
Berg, M. (2023). Frozen Margaritas, Free Nibbles and the Future of Work: A Small Ethnography of Digital Professionals at SXSW. In: : . Paper presented at 4S, 2023, Honolulu. Panel: Shaping Sustainable Socio-Technical Work Futures: Cultures, Practices and Imaginaries of Digital Professionals.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Frozen Margaritas, Free Nibbles and the Future of Work: A Small Ethnography of Digital Professionals at SXSW
2023 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation only (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Despite the growing interest in how digital technologies affect work life, there is still a need for in-depth research and policy work that scrutinize where, by whom, and how the anticipated work futures are shaped and appropriated. Who sets the agenda for the future of work, and how are these images about the future of work with digital technologies created and negotiated? More importantly, where does this occur? There are key moments at a handful of globally influential 'first places' where the ideas and inventions for the digital future of work are shown and explored. These nascent ideas quickly set expectations as industries, communities, organizations, and individuals adopt and further disseminate what they have learned at those pivotal sites. This paper reports from an ethnographic pilot study of a global conference that has grown into an unmissable taste-making event that sets trends and shapes the future of work through and with digital technologies: South By SouthWest (SXSW) in Austin, TX, USA. Drawing on observations and interviews with ten participants representing the digital and creative industries in Sweden, this paper shows how digital work futures are constituted through anticipatory and appropriation practices, and how a sense of belonging - based mainly on pleasures - runs through the processes and practices by which technologies, experiences, and anticipations become entangled in everyday professional environments.

National Category
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology) Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-64912 (URN)
Conference
4S, 2023, Honolulu. Panel: Shaping Sustainable Socio-Technical Work Futures: Cultures, Practices and Imaginaries of Digital Professionals
Available from: 2024-01-10 Created: 2024-01-10 Last updated: 2024-01-10Bibliographically approved
Berg, M., Engberg, M. & Leckner, S. (Eds.). (2023). Tekniska mediestudier: En introduktion till metoder och teknologier (1ed.). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Tekniska mediestudier: En introduktion till metoder och teknologier
2023 (Swedish)Collection (editor) (Other academic)
Abstract [sv]

I en tid då medielandskapet är i ständig förändring och traditionell medieforskning konstant utmanas ökar behovet av att förena teknik, humaniora och samhällsvetenskap. Medie- och teknikforskning kräver innovativa angreppssätt för att navigera bland komplexa relationer mellan kultur, samhälle, ekonomi och teknologi.

I den här boken bjuder ledande forskare in till samtal om teknologins utmaningar och möjligheter. Här presenteras redskap för att utforska, beskriva, begreppsliggöra och förstå nya relationer mellan medieteknologier och deras omvärld – en kunskap som förbereder läsaren att på egen hand kombinera samhällsvetenskapernas kritiska analyser med teknikvetenskapernas tradition att utveckla tillförlitliga och effektiva system.

Tekniska mediestudier riktar sig till studenter inom ämnen som medieteknik, medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap, kulturvetenskap, data- och systemvetenskap, interaktionsdesign och informatik.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Lund: Studentlitteratur AB, 2023. p. 325 Edition: 1
National Category
Media and Communication Technology Media and Communications
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-61672 (URN)978-91-44-15523-4 (ISBN)
Available from: 2023-07-05 Created: 2023-07-05 Last updated: 2023-11-23Bibliographically approved
Berg, M., Ruckenstein, M., Kaun, A., Larsson, S. & Lomborg, S. (2022). Automated Welfare Futures: Interrogating Automated Decision-Making in the Nordics. In: : . Paper presented at 30th Nordic Sociological Association Conference University of Iceland, Reykjavik, 10 – 12 August 2022..
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Automated Welfare Futures: Interrogating Automated Decision-Making in the Nordics
Show others...
2022 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

How can we, as social scientists, make sense of the promises and implications of automated and data-driven systems that are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and essential for the Nordic welfare states? What are the theoretical and methodological tensions and possibilities that these systems pose to research when they assemble and disassemble existing structures, organisational logics and dependencies?

Over the last few years, critical social science research has established that data harvesting and digital tracking, in particular, pose a general societal challenge that risks undermining Nordic values of autonomy and equity and the overall welfare of people. At the same time, the welfare state and welfare provision are increasingly characterised by processes of datafication, promoting uses of data analytics and automated decision-making (ADM). Researchers have flagged datafication as a specific concern for the public sector in relation to questions of ADM systems, and other forms of data-driven optimization. Despite the burgeoning literature on various concerns and the ethical guidelines and regulatory initiatives that try to respond to them, however, we have engaged so far with a limited range of theoretical and methodological approaches to explore the social dynamics at play in concrete contexts of ADM.

This roundtable brings together key scholars that engage critically with the social aims and implications of datafication to address how ADM is imagined, practised and experienced in different empirical contexts and across various organisational levels in the Nordics. The roundtable will open with short ’provocations’ through which the speakers present and contextualise concepts they have used or would like to promote in the study of emerging automated and data-driven systems. The provocations are followed by a joint discussion about how these concepts can support sociological research that studies the promises and implications of automated and data-driven systems as part of the myths and realities of the Nordic welfare states, now and in the future.

National Category
Sociology Media and Communications Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-54374 (URN)
Conference
30th Nordic Sociological Association Conference University of Iceland, Reykjavik, 10 – 12 August 2022.
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, F19-1053:1
Available from: 2022-08-11 Created: 2022-08-11 Last updated: 2023-10-02Bibliographically approved
Berg, M. (2022). Automation as an empty signifier: Interrogating automated work futures and their non-technologies. In: : . Paper presented at Reframing ADM: Concepts, Values, Alternatives, 29 Aug. - 30 Aug. 2022, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Automation as an empty signifier: Interrogating automated work futures and their non-technologies
2022 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

This paper explores the role of anticipated futures of automation in public administration. Engaging with ethnographic research with stakeholders from roughly ten municipalities in Sweden, this paper examines the tension between different ways of imagining automated work futures and the extent to which they are associated with (or not) technologies. Automating data-driven processes is believed to alleviate administrative drudgery and support a goal-driven, efficient public sector. Various stakeholders participate in the implementation of automation systems, including corporate actors, managers, politicians, and civil servants. This group of stakeholders has diverse perspectives and expectations regarding the future of work automation and its role in the organisation of public services. Some see automated work processes as a way to boost efficiency, productivity, and precision through algorithmic data processing; others, however, see them as ways to allow professionals to spend less time on repetitive, rule-based, and seemingly tedious tasks, so that they can focus on their core professional practice. Challenging established narratives about work automation, this paper suggests how automation can be used to visualise, think about, and communicate organisational change without involving any technology per se, but rather as an empty signifier to which future-making practices can be affixed and legitimised. By emphasising social expectations and experiences, the paper interrogates emerging automated work futures in ways that move beyond techno-optimism and economic-political goals of efficiency and optimisation, not the least by showing that automation is situated, social and contingent.

National Category
Media and Communication Technology Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-55884 (URN)
Conference
Reframing ADM: Concepts, Values, Alternatives, 29 Aug. - 30 Aug. 2022, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2020-00977
Available from: 2022-11-10 Created: 2022-11-10 Last updated: 2024-06-11Bibliographically approved
Projects
Sensing, shaping, sharing: Imagining the body in a mediatized world [P14-0367:1_RJ]; Halmstad UniversitySelf-tracking and automatised bodies; Malmö UniversityHuman Expectation and Experience of Autonomous Driving, HEADRe-humanising Automated Decision-Making; Malmö University
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-7628-5829

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