Abstract
ABSTRACT This study explores the differences and similarities between the perceptions of data experts and refugees as data subjects, in the context of a refugee relocation algorithm. The study conducted in-depth interviews with data experts and Syrian refugees in Estonia and Turkey. The results indicate that both refugees and data experts acknowledge the algorithms’ potential power for structuring the everyday life experiences of people. Whereas refugees mainly focused on cultural and social concerns, the data experts underlined the importance of refugees’ agency and the potential drawbacks of algorithms in terms of transparency and accountability. While both groups of interviewees thought the relocation algorithm could be useful especially in economic terms, the study demonstrates that algorithms create complex power relations and place extra pressure on both refugees and data experts. The new digital landscapes produced by algorithms entail a ‘triple agency’ – an agency of experts developing and using these datafied solutions, an agency of data subjects being targets of those calculations, and an agency of algorithms. For solving the issue of ‘false authority’, where the modelling of spatial choice cannot grasp the socio-cultural reality, it is necessary to consider the socio-cultural context of the calculative devices. A paradigm shift in machine learning is necessary from learning machines as autonomous subjects to machines learning from social contexts and individuals’ experiences. Rather than experimenting with algorithmic solutions to speed up decisions about human lives, migration policies and relevant datafied solutions should consider the diversity of human experiences expressed in individuals’ everyday life.
Highlights
Complex societal processes like forced migration require rapidity in decision-making and finding governance solutions
This study strives to contribute to these discussions, through examining the positions of refugees and data experts on the refugee relocation algorithm ( RRA) as one of the datafied decision-making solutions used in the field of migration for examining the contested spaces and new digital landscapes of the algorithms
We examined the perceptions of the refugee relocation algorithm (RRA) as one of the datafied decision-making solutions in the field of migration and aimed to explain the perspectives on the new digital landscapes of the algorithms implemented for governing migration
Summary
Complex societal processes like forced migration require rapidity in decision-making and finding governance solutions. Due to the lack of research in this field, there is missing knowledge on how exactly algorithmic data solutions are shaping the socio-spatial perspectives of the individuals and (re)constructing the new digital landscapes. This study strives to contribute to these discussions, through examining the positions of refugees and data experts on the refugee relocation algorithm ( RRA) as one of the datafied decision-making solutions used in the field of migration for examining the contested spaces and new digital landscapes of the algorithms. Examining the refugees’ and data experts’ understandings regarding the RRA helps us to explain digital landscapes produced through algorithmic solutions, as seen by the experts as external agents of these constructions, and understood by refugees who are internalising and expressing their positions regarding these solutions. This study will seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How is the RRA perceived, considering the disparate positions of the parties, the data experts and refugees? (2) Which concerns are expressed by the parties, taking into consideration the contexts of home and host society? (3) How are the spaces of the resistance and acceptance expressed in the contested field of the RRA?
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