Dataism, Metrics and University

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Tamari, Tomoko. 2023. 'Dataism, Metrics and University'. In: Post-Media Tokyo Conference 2023. Tokyo University of Arts, Japan 18 - 19 February 2023. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Abstract or Description

The paper addresses how our world is increasingly governed and changed by dataism and AI technologies which also drive our academic life in higher-education institutions. Dataism was coined by David Brooks (2013) which refers to the situation which information processing systems with big data have become a prominent tool to measure, analyze and predict from consumption behavior to medical treatment, from weather forecast to political discourses. In this context, metrics as a standard measurement become important to measure performance for improvement. Dataism and metrics is not just found in university administration office, but also in lecture classrooms. On November 30, 2022, OpenAI released ‘ChatGPT’ AI system which works with a massive trained-data source. This is a system to allegedly generate various types of ‘sound’ and ‘scholarly’ academic essays. The biggest concern is that humans will be outsourcing not only their writing ability, but also their memories and their ability for critical thinking and inspirational creativities. Such externalization of memories and experiences is what Siegler calls ‘symbolic misery’ which leads to a loss of ‘embodied knowledge’. Given such situations, the conventional definition and self-conception of the university is under threat. We now realized that universities are no longer seen as ‘the key frame of reference’ of knowledge formation. We also notice that knowledge formation processes are not fixed, but temporal and unstable. These analytical views are based on the sociological perspective which can be understood as what Nietzsche called ‘the art of mistrust’ (Berger 1963). It seeks for mechanisms which are hidden from the consciousness of everyday life. Hence, I would like to argue that from sociological perspective, we need to consider what could be an alternative frame of reference for knowledge. This question could also take us to the question of what a post university could be, if we can still believe that the university play a key role as a site of knowledge formation.

Item Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Keynote)