Morgan Currie
Job Title
Senior Lecturer in Data & Society
Research interests
Research interests
Automated social services, Administrative data, Open data, Data activism, Participation, Cities, Cultural mapping, Critical GIS
Projects
Automating Universal Credit
An ESRC-funded project on the emergence of automated social services and how claimants experience these systems, through a study of the UK's Universal Credit scheme. I use document analysis to illuminate Universal Credit's wider political context and map the political values and policies that inform the system's technical dimensions. I also carried out a one-year longitudinal study to investigate how claimants interact with Universal Credit's automated payment system.
The Culture & Communities Mapping Project
The Culture & Communities Mapping Project researches Edinburgh’s cultural landscapes by asking questions about cultural equity, cultural identity, and the links between geography, sociodemographics, and culture. We use the methods of cultural mapping and GIS to reflect on the city’s cultural infrastructures, including the city's major festivals. Our outputs include print maps, web maps, reports, articles and datasets, co-created with a variety of Edinburgh-based stakeholders, including the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Festivals, and local cultural centres LeithLate, WHALE Arts, and North Edinburgh Arts, among others.
Project webpage here.
Datafication of Cities
This research draws on my dissertation to ask about the consequences of data-centric policies inside city governments on public outreach and democratic participation. While administrations have long collected statistics for the express purpose of creating quantitative accounts for administrative decision-making, the past decade has seen new types of administrative information rendered as data, and so subject to automation and machine-readable functions. City governments have embraced these tools to track performance, set goals, triage public services, and engage with the public. Datafication raises new questions about public accountability and democratic participation that demand exploring.
Data Activism and Data Justice
This ongoing research analyses case studies of data activism and data justice through critical and political theory to differentiate between activist goals and methods. I'm in particular influenced by theories of agonistic pluralism that argue that consensus politics mask how power is rooted in society. The concept of agonism is useful for moving beyond a representational view of data and towards understanding its affective and rhetorical dimensions. To this end, I've also been part of Edinburgh's Data Justice Week and past efforts to involve communities in interrogating data through collective analysis and GIS mapping.
PhD Topics
I am currently supervising students researching the automation and datafication of government administrations and affective facial recognition systems. I'm happy to take students interested broadly in the social and political dimensions of big data, government and urban data, data justice, data activism, and cultural mapping.
Find out more about the programmes that I am involved with (opening in new windows):
Current PhD Students
Alli Spring (Science, Technology & Innovation Studies)
Benedetta Catanzariti (Science, Technology & Innovation Studies)
James Besse (Science, Technology & Innovation Studies)
Background
My research and teaching interests focus on open and administrative data, automation in social services, activists' data practices, civil society and democracy, and social justice and the city. I use methods of participant observation, interviews, GIS and participatory mapping, drawing from the fields of STS, media studies, information studies, critical data studies and critical cartography.
I earned a Ph.D. in Information Studies from University of California, Los Angeles, in 2017. I have a MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles (2016) and a Masters in New Media from the University of Amsterdam (2010). Prior to my Lectureship I was was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University.
Teaching
Autumn
Technologies of Civic Participation
Datafication, Accountability and Democracy
Spring
Internet, Society & Economy
AI and Data Ethics as Practice
Publications
Books
Currie, M. & Miranda, M. (2021). The Culture & Communities Mapping Project. Palgrave.
Currie, M., J. Knox & C. McGregor (eds.). (2022). Data Justice & the Right to the City. University of Edinburgh Press.
Refereed Articles
L. Podoletz. and M. Currie (2024) Automating universal credit: A case of temporal governance. First Monday, 29(2). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v29i2.13580.
Currie, M., and Podoletz, L. (2023). Emotions and Dynamic Assemblages: A Study of Automated Social Security Using Qualitative Longitudinal Research. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1101–1111. https://doi.org/10.1145/3593013.3594066
Hemment, D., Currie, M., Bennett, SJ, Elwes, J., Ridler, A., Sinders, C., Vidmar, M., Hill, R., and Warner, H.( 2023). AI in the Public Eye: Investigating Public AI Literacy Through AI Art. In Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ’23). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 931–942. https://doi.org/10.1145/3593013.3594052
Crooks, R. & Currie, M. (2021). Numbers will not save us: Agonistic data practices. The Information Society. DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2021.1920081
Currie, M. & M. Correa (2021). Tangibles, intangibles and other tensions in the Culture & Communities Mapping Project. Cultural Trends. 10 May. DOI: 10.1080/09548963.2021.1910491
Currie, M. (2020). Data as performance - showcasing the city through open data maps. Big Data & Society. 7:1. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720907953.
Currie, M. & U. W. F. Hsu (2019). Performative data: Cultures of Government Data Practice. Journal of Cultural Analytics. 13 August 2019. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/32utx.
Currie, M., B. Paris, & Donovan, J. (2019) "What difference do data make? Data management and social change", Online Information Review, https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-02-2018-0052
Currie, M., & B. Paris. (2018). Back-ups for the future. Archival practices for data activism. Archives & Manuscripts. June.
Currie, M., B. Paris, I. Pasquetto, and J. Pierre (2016). The conundrum of police officer-involved homicides: Counter-data in Los Angeles County. Big Data & Society. 3.2: 2053951716663566. bds.sagepub.com.
Fidler, B., & Currie, M. (2016). Infrastructure, Representation, and Historiography in BBN’s Arpanet Maps. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 38(3), 44–57. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2015.69.
Fidler, B. and M. Currie (2015). The Production and interpretation of ARPANET maps. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 37(1), 44-55, January-March, DOI: 10.1109/MAHC.2015.16.
Kelty, C., A. Panofsky, R. Crooks, M. Currie, S. Erickson, P. Garcia, S. Wood, and M. Wartenbe (2014). Seven dimensions of contemporary participation disentangled. Journal of the American Society for Information and Technology, 66(3), 474–488. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23202
Book Chapters
Paris, B., M. Currie, I. Pasquetto, and J. Pierre. (forthcoming 2022). Data Burdens: Epistemologies of Evidence in Police Reform and Abolition Movements. In Currie, M., J. Knox & C. McGregor (eds.). Data Justice & the Right to the City. University of Edinburgh Press.
Currie, M. (2018). Hacking administration: A report from Los Angeles. In Hunsinger J. and A. Schrock (eds.), Making Our World: The Hacker and Maker Movements in Context, New York: Peter Lang.
Currie, M. (2012). The feminist critique: Mapping controversy in Wikipedia. In Berry, D. M. (ed.), Understanding Digital Humanities, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp. 224-248.
Op-Eds, Proceedings, & Book Reviews
Pierre, J., R. Crooks, M. Currie, B. Paris, I. Pasquetto. (2021). Getting Ourselves Together: Epistemic Burden and Data-centered Participatory Design Research. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. May. Article No.: 406 Pages 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445103. (Best Paper Award)
Currie, M, & Catanzariti, B. (2020). Data Politics: Drag, Deepfakes and the Taming of Technology. The New Real Magazine. 14 October.
Currie, M (2020). Explainer: How DeepFakes Are Impacting Society. The New Real Magazine. 14 October.
Lyons, C & M. Currie (2019). Easy Sharing: A sharing-economy pilot service in areas of multiple deprivation in West Edinburgh. P. Travlou & L. Ciolfi (Eds.). Ethnographies of Collaborative Economies Conference Proceedings. University of Edinburgh, 25 October. ISBN 978-1-912669-11-0.
Niker, F, Himmelreich, J, Feldman, J, & Currie, M. (2019). Coding Caring Workshop Report. Focused study for the Stanford AI100 Report. Stanford University, 28-29 May.
Currie, M. (2018). A dual valuation of open government. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research. Delft, The Netherlands, 30 May – 1 June.
Paris , B. S., and Currie, M. (2018). Buried, altered, silenced: 4 ways government climate information has changed since Trump took office, The Conversation, 21 March. http://theconversation.com/buried-altered-silenced-4-ways-government-climate-information-has-changed-since-trump-took-office-92323
Currie, M. (2017). The datafication of transparency work: A report from Los Angeles. Proceedings for the Interactions Symposium on Big Data. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies, 13(2). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73j1q5sp.
Paris, B. S., Currie, M., Donovan, J. (2017). Grand intentions, small interventions: Climate data rescue as counter-data action. AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research. Estonia 18 - 21 October.
Paris, B. S., and Currie, M. (2017). How the “guerrilla archivists” saved history – and are doing it again under Trump. The Conversation, February 21. http://theconversation.com/how-the-guerrilla-archivists-saved-history-and-are-doing-it-again-under-trump-72346.
Currie, M., B. Paris, I. Pasquetto, J. Pierre, and A. Sands. (2015). The Police officer-involved homicide database project. Proceedings to the 2015 iConference, Newport, CA.
Fidler, B. and M. Currie (2015). Gateways: Historical underpinnings of a single Internet. Proceedings to the 2015 iConference, Newport Beach, CA.
Currie, M. (2015). Review: Open standards and the digital age: History, ideology, and networks by Andrew L. Russell. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies, 11(2), Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/19d2h79x.
Currie, M. (2013). Review: Paper machines: About cards & catalogs, 1548-1929 by Markus Krajewski. InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies, 9(1), Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/07h1s2w7.
Works within
Publications by user content
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Bennett H, Currie ME, Podoletz L. Universal Credit: Administrative burdens of automated welfare. Journal of Social Policy. 2024 Sept 18;1-19. Epub 2024 Sept 18. doi: 10.1017/S0047279424000175 |
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Podoletz L, Currie ME. Automating universal credit: A case of temporal governance. First Monday. 2024 Feb 11;29(2). doi: 10.5210/fm.v29i2.13580 |
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Stiefel L, Currie M, Musiani F, Sandoz A, Silvast A, Williams R. Preface. First Monday. 2024 Feb 11;29(2). doi: 10.5210/fm.v29i2.13559 |
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Hemment D, Vidmar M, Milne G, (ed.), Winger Bearskin A, Ridler A, Ploin A et al. The New Real Magazine: Edition 1. The New Real Magazine: Edition 1. 2023 Nov 10. |
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Currie M, Podoletz L. Studying lived experience and automated systems: The case of Universal Credit. In Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 2023. p. 547-552. (Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology; 1). doi: 10.1002/pra2.813 |
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Currie M, Podoletz L. Emotions and dynamic assemblages: A study of automated social security using qualitative longitudinal research. In FAccT '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. New York: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2023. p. 1101-1111 doi: 10.1145/3593013.3594066 |
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Hemment D, Currie M, Bennett SJ, Elwes J, Ridler A, Sinders C et al. AI in the public eye: Investigating public AI literacy through AI art. In FAccT '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency. New York: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2023. p. 931-942 doi: 10.1145/3593013.3594052 |
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Well L, Currie ME, Stewart J. Surveillance, discretion and governance in automated welfare: The case of the German ALLEGRO System. Science & Technology Studies. 2023 Feb 15;36(1):42–58. Epub 2022 Jun 2. doi: 10.23987/sts.100490 |
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Currie M, (ed.), Knox J, (ed.), Mcgregor C, (ed.). Data Justice and the Right to the City. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 256 p. (Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights). doi: 10.1515/9781474492973 |
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Currie M, Knox J, Mcgregor C. Data justice and the right to the city: An introduction. In Currie M, Knox J, Mcgregor C, editors, Data Justice and the Right to the City. Edinburgh University Press. 2022. (Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights). |
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Paris B, Currie M, Pasquetto I, Pierre J. Data burdens: Epistemologies of evidence in police reform and abolition movements. In Currie M, Knox J, Mcgregor C, editors, Data Justice and the Right to the City. Edinburgh University Press. 2022. p. 301-325. (Studies in Global Justice and Human Rights). |
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Turner J, Bennett H, Currie ME, Zealley C. Navigating Digital Welfare Methods Report. 2022. 26 p. |
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Currie M, Miranda Correa M. The Culture and Communities Mapping Project. 1 ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. 122 p. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-88651-6 |
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Crooks R, Currie ME. Numbers will not save us: Agonistic data practices. The Information Society. 2021 May 13. Epub 2021 May 13. doi: 10.1080/01972243.2021.1920081 |
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Pierre J, Crooks R, Currie ME, Paris BS, Pasquetto IV. Getting ourselves together: Data-centered participatory design research & epistemic burden. In CHI'21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2021. p. 1-11. 406 doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445103 |
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Currie ME, Miranda Correa M. Tangibles, intangibles and other tensions in the Culture and Communities Mapping Project. Cultural Trends. 2021 May 10. Epub 2021 May 10. doi: 10.1080/09548963.2021.1910491 |
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Currie M, Catanzariti B. Data politics: Drag, deepfakes and the taming of technology. 2020. |
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Currie M. Data as performance – Showcasing cities through open data maps. Big Data and Society. 2020 Mar 25;7(1):1-14. doi: 10.1177/2053951720907953 |
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Currie ME, Paris BS, Donovan JM. What difference do data make? Data management and social change. Online Information Review. 2019 Oct 14;43(6):971-985. Epub 2018 Nov 22. doi: 10.1108/OIR-02-2018-0052 |
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Currie M. Performative Data: Cultures of Government Data Practice. Journal of Cultural Analytics. 2019 Aug 13. doi: 10.22148/16.045 |
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Currie M. Hacking administration: A report from Los Angeles. In Hunsinger J, Shrock A, editors, Making Our World: The Hacker and Maker Movements in Context. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. 2018. p. 115-132. (Digital Formations). Epub 2018. doi: 10.3726/b14469 |
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Currie M. A dual valuation of open government. In Zuiderwijk A, Hinnant CC, editors, The Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research: Governance in the Data Age. New York: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). 2018. p. 1-8. 75 doi: 10.1145/3209281.3209386 |
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Currie M, Donovan J, Paris B. Preserving for a More Just Future: Tactics of Activist Data Archiving. In Munshi UM, Verma N, editors, Data Science Landscape: Towards Research Standards and Protocols. 1 ed. Singapore: Springer. 2018. p. 67-78. (Studies in Big Data). Epub 2018 Mar 2. doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-7515-5_5 |
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Currie ME, Paris BS. Back-ups for the future: Archival practices for data activism. Archives and Manuscripts. 2018;46(2):124-142. Epub 2018 Jun 12. doi: 10.1080/01576895.2018.1468273 |
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Currie M. The datafication of transparency work: A report from Los Angeles. Proceedings for the Interactions Symposium on Big Data. InterActions:UCLA Journal of Education and information Studies. 2017 Jan 1;13(2):1-15. |
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Currie M, Paris BS, Pasquetto I, Pierre J. The conundrum of police officer-involved homicides: Counter-data in Los Angeles County. Big Data and Society. 2016 Dec 1;3(2):1-14. Epub 2016 Aug 10. doi: 10.1177/2053951716663566 |
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Currie M, Fidler B. Infrastructure, Representation, and Historiography in BBN's Arpanet Maps. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 2015 Sept 23;38(3):44-57. doi: 10.1109/MAHC.2015.69 |
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Currie M, Fidler B. The Production and Interpretation of ARPANET Maps. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 2015 Mar 10;37(1):44-55. doi: 10.1109/MAHC.2015.16 |
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Kelty C, Panofsky A, Currie M, Crooks R, Erickson S, Garcia P et al. Seven dimensions of contemporary participation disentangled. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 2015 Mar;66(3):474–488. Epub 2014 May 28. doi: 10.1002/asi.23202 |
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