I’m interested in the ways that the digital world, particularly social media, has had a major impact on our social and political worlds. Though this impact has been far from wholly positive, it also is something which marginalised groups has used to acquire increased agency and a sense of community. An explanation of this is of particular importance as, my hunch, is that many of the practices and institutions which made this possible are at risk due to generative AI.

Recognising Injustice in the Digital Public Sphere (RECIND)

RECIND is a major 2-year project co-financed by the European Commission and the Polish National Science Centre. Led by Dr Cillian Ó Fathaigh, the project has received €252,000 (1,166,243 zł) in funding to investigate the importance of the digital public sphere as a site for the recognition of contemporary injustices.

The project will bring together continental philosophy, feminist philosophy and the philosophy of technology to develop a framework for understanding online politics. The working hypothesis of RECIND is that recognition of injustices represents a major political function of the digital and that this takes place through the contestation of social norms.

The 4 main project goals are:

1. Reconceive the public sphere through philosophies of vulnerability.
2. Consider what has happened to the idea of community in the online space
3. Describe new figures of belonging that surpass traditional conceptions of the citizen and the nation-state
4. Argue for the importance of the digital public sphere as a site for the contestation of social norms and through this the recognition of injustice.

“Recognising Injustice in the Digital Public Sphere (RECIND)”, No. 2022/47/P/HS1/03172 (PI: Cillian Ó Fathaigh), is co-funded by the National Science Centre and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 945339.