Are They Doing Artificial Intelligence? (Re)Constructing the Primary Activity in Data Science

Remigiusz Żulicki

doi:10.18778/1733-8069.20.4.09

Authors

Remigiusz Żulicki University of Lodz, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-2422

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8069.20.4.09

Keywords:

social worlds, primary activity, artificial intelligence, data science

Abstract

Data science (DS) is concerned with building so-called artificial intelligence, i.e., computer systems that automate tasks based on historical data. This article is the first attempt to examine DS using Adele E. Clarke’s framework of social worlds. The main goal of this paper is to show the (re)construction of primary activity based on the example of the social world of DS in Poland. Methodological reflection on this (re)construction is an underdeveloped element in the study of social worlds; therefore, this paper strives to make this process explicit. The empirical background is a three-year ethnographic study, following Clarke’s situational analysis approach. The methodological results demonstrate the indispensability of collaborative ethnography in (re)constructing primary activity and the importance of finding palpable elements as those being crucial to understanding primary activity. The substantive results focus on the idea that data scientists do not refer to their activity as doing artificial intelligence.

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Author Biography

Remigiusz Żulicki, University of Lodz, Poland

Ph.D., works at the Department of Social Research Methods and Techniques, Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Economics and Sociology, University of Lodz. His research interests include social science research methodology, social worlds/arenas, critical data studies, and digital sociology. He harmonizes panel survey data regarding precarity – CNB-Young project – and investigates illegal trash dumping. He is an open-source and open-science enthusiast. Member of interdisciplinary Generative Artificial Intelligence Team at the University of Lodz.

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