Data, ideology, and the developing critical program of social informatics

The rapidly shifting ideological terrain of computing has a profound impact on Social Informatics's critical and empirical analysis of computerization movements. As these movements incorporate many of the past critiques concerning social fit and situational context leveled against them by Social Informatics research, more subtle and more deeply ingrained modes of ideological practice have risen to support movements of computerization. Among these, the current emphasis on the promises of data and data analytics presents the most obvious ideological challenge. In order to reorient Social Informatics in relation to these new ideological challenges, Louis Althusser's theory of ideology is discussed, with its implications for Social Informatics considered. Among these implications, a changed relationship between Social Informatics's critical stance and its reliance on empirical methods is advanced. Addressed at a fundamental level, the practice of Social Informatics comes to be reoriented in a more distinctly reflective and ethical direction

Electoral surveys influence on the voting processes: a cellular automata model

Nowadays, in societies threatened by atomization, selfishness, short-term thinking, and alienation from political life, there is a renewed debate about classical questions concerning the quality of democratic decision-making. In this work a cellular automata (CA) model for the dynamics of free elections based on the social impact theory is proposed. By using computer simulations, power law distributions for the size of electoral clusters and decision time have been obtained. The major role of broadcasted electoral surveys in guiding opinion formation and stabilizing the ``{\it status quo}'' was demonstrated. Furthermore, it was shown that in societies where these surveys are manipulated within the universally accepted statistical error bars, even a majoritary opposition could be hindered from reaching the power through the electoral path.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Os professores na virada do milênio: do excesso dos discursos à pobreza das práticas

Este artigo surge na sequência de uma palestra proferida na Faculdade de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo, no dia 20 de Maio de 1999. Uma versão deste texto foi publicada na revista espanhola Cuadernos de Pedagogía (nº 286, Dezembro de 1999) e na Revista Educação e pesquisa: Educ. Pesqui. vol.25 no.1 São Paulo Jan./June 1999)Escrito na sequência de uma Conferência proferida na Universidade de São Paulo, este artigo procura analisar a 'realidade discursiva' que marca grande parte dos textos sobre educação neste final de século. A chave de leitura do artigo é a lógica excesso-pobreza, aplicada ao exame da situação dos professores: i) do excesso da retórica política e dos mass-media à pobreza das políticas educativas; ii) o excesso das linguagens dos especialistas internacionais à pobreza dos programas de formação de professores; iii) do excesso do discurso científico-educacional à pobreza das práticas pedagógicas; iv) do excesso das 'vozes' dos professores à pobreza das práticas associativas docentes. Não recusando um pensamento 'utópico', o autor critica as análises 'prospectivas' que revelam um 'excesso de futuro' que é, ao mesmo tempo, um 'défice de presente'.Rédigé à la suite d'une Conférence donnée à l'Université de São Paulo, cet article cherche à analyser la 'réalité discursive' qui marque la plupart des textes sur l'éducation dans cette fin de siècle. La clef de lecture de l'article est le couple excès-pauvreté, appliqué à l'examen de la situation des enseignants: i) de l'excès de la rhétorique politique et des mass-media à la pauvreté des politiques éducatives; ii) de l'excès des langages des experts internationaux à la pauvreté des programmes de formation des enseignants; iii) de l'excès du discours scientifique-éducationnel à la pauvreté des pratiques pédagogiques; iv) de l'excès des 'voix' des enseignants à la pauvreté des pratiques associatives des enseignants. Ne refusant pas une pensée 'utopique', l'auteur critique les analyses 'prospectives' qui sont porteuses d'un 'excès d'avenir' qui est, en même temps, un 'déficit de présent'

Marx' Denken im Kapital

Wir halten es für lohnend, den Lesern, die sich aufgrund unserer Reihe »Theorie« an eine bestimmte Art und Weise, das »Kapital« zu hinterfragen, haben gewöhnen können - von »Das Kapital lesen!« (1965) bis zu den »Fünf Untersuchungen über den Historischen Materialismus« (1974) -, hiermit das Buch Gerard Dum6nils vorzustellen, eines Forschers, der für sich allein eine Untersuchungsarbeit ganz anderer Ausrichtung durchgeführt hat. Dies allein schon läßt eine Konfrontation von Herangehensweisen und die Formulierung fruchtbarer Hypothesen erwarten - zumal in einem Augenblick, wo es uns der historische und theoretische Abstand, in dem wir uns zum »Kapital« befinden, möglich macht, bestimmte seiner grundlegenden Evidenzen als solche zu »bearbeiten«, einmal genauer zu untersuchen, um in die Lage zu kommen, das in ihm behandelte Material und die spezifische Ökonomie seiner Darstellung neu zu gewichten