Worlding Biodata
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
- Convenor: Professor Silvia Posocco
- Assessment: a 1500-word assignment on a visit to a cultural institution (20%) and 3500-word essay (80%)
Module description
What is biodata? What ties biodata to coloniality? How is biodata collected and exchanged? How does biodata accrue value and who benefits from it? Who owns biodata? What biodata repositories, systems and infrastructures are there and how are they operated, managed and maintained? What ethical and political challenges emerge in biodata worlds? What does future-proofing biodata entail and who should care for biodata?
In this module we focus on inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to the study of data derived from living organisms, or biodata. We approach biodata as socio-technical assemblages and introduce you to key ideas, debates and readings in biodata studies. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS), anthropology, sociology and data studies, we will cover social, historical, cultural and political analyses of the emergence of biodata as socio-technical objects tied to significant transformations in scientific and social infrastructures across a range of fields, including forensics, health and environmental sciences.
Indicative syllabus
- Conceptualising biodata
- Archives, repositories and biobanks
- Collection and accession
- Genomics and postgenomics
- Systems and domains
- Biodata journeys
- Interoperability
- From biobanking to direct-to-consumer
- Governance and ethical challenges
- Communities, worlds and futures
Learning objectives
By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- identify and discuss key ideas, debates and readings in biodata studies
- engage with arguments about the history, provenance, value, ownership, governance and custodianship of biodata across a range of domains and sectors, including forensics, health and bioprospecting
- understand major transformations in biodata infrastructures and critically consider major challenges tied to biodata processing in the era of genomics and postgenomics
- engage in comprehensive reviews and consideration of key dimensions of the ethics and politics of biodata
- analyse challenges and dilemmas posed by biodata for individuals and communities in contemporary biodata worlds and in relation to socially and culturally situated biodata futures.