Malte Ziewitz

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
Information Law Institute
New York University
239 Greene Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10003
mcz3@nyu.edu

CV (pdf)

First State Exam Law 2003 (Hamburg), M.P.A. 2006 (Harvard), D.Phil. 2012 (Oxford)

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and the Information Law Institute at New York University. Broadly based in Science and Technology Studies (STS), ethnography, and public policy, my research revolves around the practicalities of evaluation, governance, and accountability in digitally networked environments -- the dynamics at work, the values at stake, the design options at hand. In my doctoral work, I looked at the practical politics of novel review, rating and ranking schemes in healthcare and search engine optimization (SEO).

I work with Helen Nissenbaum and Steve Woolgar. I also collaborate with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (public policy), Christian Pentzold (communications studies), Theo Röhle (media studies), Ian Brown (computer science), Fadhila Mazanderani (sociology of health), and the Oxford STS group.

Previously, I was a McCloy Fellow at Harvard University, a Non-resident Fellow at the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen, a Junior Researcher at the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, and a member of multidisciplinary research teams at Harvard, Oxford, St. Gallen, Hamburg and the OECD. My work has been supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the German National Academic Foundation, an OII/PGP Scholarship, the Heinz Schwarzkopf Foundation, the Keble Association, and the German Academic Exchange Service.

Research interests

Science & technology studies; governance and accountability relations; sociology of evaluation; digital media; online reviews, ratings, rankings; information law and policy; ethnography; ethnomethodology

Projects

• Governing Algorithms: ongoing research and an upcoming conference at New York University (May 16-17, 2013) on the recent rise of algorithms as an object of interest in areas beyond computer science.
• Evaluation as Governance: my dissertation, which examines the practical politics of reviewing, rating, and ranking on the web through ethnographies of two very different settings: web-based patient feedback and search engine optimization (SEO). E-mail me for a copy.
• How's My Feedback?: a collaborative project to rethink and evaluate web-based review and rating schemes.
• The STS Talk-Walks: a monthly walking seminar I started at the University of Oxford.

Selected publications

-- Journal articles

• New! Ziewitz, M. and C. Pentzold (2013). In search of internet governance: Performing order in digitally networked environments. New Media & Society.
• Ziewitz, M. (2011). How to attend to screens? Technology, ontology and precarious enactments. Encounters 4(2): 203-228.
• Mayer-Schönberger, V. and M. Ziewitz (2007). Jefferson rebuffed: The United States and the future of internet governance. Columbia Science and Technology Law Review 8: 188-228.

-- Book chapters

• Ziewitz, M. and I. Brown (2013). A prehistory of internet governance. In Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet, ed I. Brown, 3-26. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
• Ziewitz, M. (2008). Viel Ordnung, wenig Recht: Kollaborative Selbstkontrolle als Vertrauensfaktor am Beispiel Wikipedias. In Informationelles Vertrauen für die Informationsgesellschaft, eds D. Klumpp, H. Kubicek, A. Rossnagel and W. Schulz, 173-188. Heidelberg: Springer.
• Schulz, W. and M. Ziewitz (2004). Extending The Access Obligation to EPGs and Service Platforms?. In Regulating Access to Digital Television: Technical Bottlenecks, Vertically-Integrated Markets and New Forms of Media Concentration, eds W. Closs and S. Nikolzchev, 47-58. Strasbourg: IRIS European Audiovisual Observatory.

-- Working papers

• New! Barocas, S., Hood, S. and M. Ziewitz (2013). Governing algorithms: A provocation piece. Discussion paper for Governing Algorithms conference, May 16-17, 2013.
• Ziewitz, M. (2011). How to think about an algorithm? Notes from a not quite random walk. Discussion paper for Symposium on "Knowledge Machines between Freedom and Control", 29 September 2011.
• Ziewitz, M. (2011). Can crowd wisdom solve regulatory problems? Discussion paper for the 1st Berlin Symposium on Internet & Society, 18 September 2011.

-- Research reports

• Ziewitz, M. and C. Pentzold (2010). Modes of governance in digitally networked environments: A workshop report. OII Forum Discussion Paper 19.
• Schroeder, R., Ziewitz, M. and E. Meyer (2009). Social, ethical, and legal issues in presence research and applications. Peach FP6 Coordination Action No 33909.
• OECD Working Party on the Information Economy, Digital Broadband Content: Online Advertising, DSTI/ICCP/IE(2007)77, Paris, 20 March 2007 (unpublished).
• Schulz, W. and M. Ziewitz (2005). Chapter 6: “Regulierung: Technische Aspekte und Politikoptionen”. In Die Zukunft des deutschen Kabelfernsehnetzes, eds B. Beckert et al., 65-86. Heidelberg: Physica Press.

Invited talks and conference papers

• “Governing algorithms: An introduction,” New York University, New York, NY, May 17, 2013
• “Spectacular algorithms: Secrecy, obscurity, and inscrutability in Search Engine Optimization (SEO),” Microsoft Research New England, Cambridge, MA, April 26, 2013
• “Evaluation as governance: The practical politics of web-based patient feedback,” Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, April 8, 2013
• “Spectacular algorithms,” Algorithms and Markets Workshop, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, UK, March 19, 2013
• “Rating in action: Governance, accountability, and web-based patient feedback,” Information Science Colloquium, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, February 20, 2013
• “Can stories change the world? Notes from an ethnography of web-based patient feedback,” Management in Healthcare speaker series, Green Templeton College, Oxford, UK, November 12, 2012
• “In search of the algorithm: A not quite random walk,” Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)/EASST Annual Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 18, 2012
• “Descriptions as companions? Notes from an uneasy relationship,” American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, November 20, 2011
• “Ambiguous analytics: Achieving relevance in search engine optimization,” Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Cleveland, OH, USA, November 3, 2011
• “Can crowd wisdom solve regulatory problems?”, 1st Berlin Symposium on Internet an Society: Exploring the Digital Future, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin, Germany, October 27, 2011 [summary by snurb.info, report by Mathieu O′Neil]
• “Evaluation as Governance?”, InSIS and ValueS Workshop, Saïd Business School, Oxford, UK, October 22, 2011
• “Algorithm: In search of the invisible hand,” Symposium Knowledge Machines between Freedom and Control, Institute for Media Archeology, Hainburg, Austria, October 7, 2011
• “How’s my feedback?,” STS Summer Workshop and How’s My Feedback? Conference, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, June 28, 2011 (with Steve Woolgar)
• “How’s my feedback? Six puzzles and some thoughts on web-based review and rating schemes,” Harvard-Yale-MIT Cyberscholar Working Group, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA, May 11, 2011
• “What architecture for multi-stakeholder participation and policy-making?,” Internet Freedom Conference, Panel Speaker, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, April 19, 2011
• “What is it with experience? Postings, governance and multiplicity in web-based patient feedback,” Knowledge, Innovation and E-health Research Group Seminar, Warwick Medical School, United Kingdom, March 2, 2011
• “Researching search: Ethnographic stories from the search marketing industry,” Business School, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, February 2, 2011
• “How to attend to screens? Mundane encounters at the int(er/ra)face,” PhD Workshop “Framing Screens: Knowledge, Interaction, Practice”, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, September 29, 2010
• “Accountability multiple? The practical politics of web-based patient feedback,” Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, Tokyo, Japan, August 26, 2010
• “‘This is not science’: A student’s experience of STS practices at Oxford”, Workshop on Practices of Science and Technology Studies: Reflexive Takes on Cross-context Collaboration, Graduate University of Advanced Studies, Tokyo, Japan, August 24, 2010
• “Innovation in governance as a practical accomplishment,” First Berlin Forum Innovation in Governance, Technical University Berlin, Germany, May 20, 2010
• “‘Don’t push your politics on me, pal’: Understanding database practices through humour,” Values in Design Workshop 2K10, New York University, New York, USA, May 7, 2010 (with Theo Roehle)
• “Order without law? Exploring modes of governance in digitally networked environments,” Games Convention Online Conference 2009, Leipzig, Germany, August 1, 2009
• “Governance and accountability in, of, and through internet-based rating schemes,” Postgraduate STS Conference 2009, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, July 28, 2009
• “Modes of governance in digitally networked environments: Perspectives from an interdisciplinary workshop,” 2nd GigaNet Workshop on ‘Global Internet Governance - An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction,’ Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium, May 11, 2009
• “Governance and accountability in/of/through internet-based rating systems,” ESRC Workshop ‘Imagining and Demystifying Empirical Socio-Legal Research,’ Loughborough University, United Kingdom, April 6, 2009
• “Let’s play: What policymakers can learn from game design”, Annual Meeting of the German Academic Merit Foundation, Oxford University, United Kingdom, Nov. 8, 2008
• “Breaking new grounds: Non-legal master programs for lawyers in the U.S.”, German-American Lawyers’ Association, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany, June 30, 2007

Conference and seminar organization

• Algorithmic Living, Session at Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA (with Phoebe Sengers and Kaiton Williams)
• Governing Algorithms, Conference at New York University, May 16-17, 2013, New York, NY, USA (with Solon Barocas, Sophie Hood, and Helen Nissenbaum)
• The “What is data?” Walk, Walking seminar at Microsoft Research New England, Social Media Collective, April 22, 2013, Cambridge, MA, USA (with Megan Finn)
• Encountering Science and Technology Studies: Situated Seminars, Trinity Term 2012, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (with Tanja Schneider)
• Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Anthropology: What is the Status of our Descriptions?, Session at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, November 20, 2011 (with Helene Ratner)
• Doing the Digital: Data, Devices and the Performance of Sociality, Session at Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) Annual Meeting, November 4, 2011, Cleveland, OH, USA (with Evelyn Ruppert)
• How’s My Feedback?, Conference, June 28, 2011, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (with Steve Woolgar and James Munro)
• Storying: A Workshop, March 5, 2011, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford (with Fadhila Mazanderani)
• The STS Talk-Walks, A monthly walking seminar at the University of Oxford, 2010-2011, Oxford, United Kingdom
• Modes of Governance in Digitally Networked Environments, International and Interdiscplinary Workshop, March 26, 2009, Oxford (supported by the ‘Networks for Web Science’ grant, EPSRC (EP/FO/3701/1)) (with Christian Pentzold)

Past students

• Neil Makhija (Oxford, now Harvard Law)
• Lena Wong (Oxford, now Oxford Internet Institute)

Contact

Media, Culture, and Communication
New York University
239 Greene Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY 10003
mcz3@nyu.edu

Updated: May 19, 2013