Welcome to the symposium and Umeå! Here you will be presented with the symposium programme, the people and an outline of the upcoming one and a half days, packed with presentations and workshops.

Simon Lindgren
Therese Enarsson

Researching the digital realm has become as messy as ever, characterized by vastness, variability, and a rapid pace of technological and social change - not least with AI and automated systems. There are numerous myths surrounding digital technology and its societal impact. Similarly, there are many myths about digital research methods in terms of their application, orthodoxy, and potential. In this talk, we will focus on the ways of approaching the messiness of digital research in ways that incorporate both old and new social theories, methodologies and concepts of the social consequences of the technological landscape. In order to find patterns in the madness and derive meaningful insights from challenging data sources, we need to first delve into the social complexities of platforms, data and technologies.

Simon Lindgren

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Digital research methods are messy and diverse — just like the research data itself. In this workshop, we will learn what methodological pragmatism can do for us in digital research and how data analysis with both interpretive and computational methods can help us make sense of data. For this purpose, we will gather in groups to discuss and explore various methods, dilemmas, and challenges. Hopefully, we will find some clarity.

Moa Eriksson Krutrök
Simon Lindgren

[Click for map with location]

As AI technologies are rapidly developed and integrated in various aspects of life and work, it becomes increasingly important to know how to use AI based tools, but also have a basic understanding for how the technology works. Strategy and policy documents at both national and international level highlight the need for AI literacy, as a means to empower individuals to make informed decisions, understand and mitigate ethical issues and biases, and adapt to evolving job markets. This literacy is critical not only for personal empowerment but also for shaping public policy, fostering innovation, and ensuring the responsible development and use of AI technologies.

Linda Mannila, Helsinki University

As digital technologies become increasingly integrated into schools, the resulting data offers rich opportunities for educational research. However, managing this data in a way that is ethical, transparent, and reusable requires careful consideration. This workshop investigates how the FAIR principles—Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability—can be applied to educational research involving digital data. We will explore the challenges of balancing open science practices with privacy concerns in sensitive educational environments and examine strategies for ensuring that data remains usable across various research contexts. Participants will gain insights into tools and methods to improve data management and contribute to more collaborative and impactful educational research.

Eva Mårell Olsson
Fanny Pettersson
Ola J. Lindberg

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So many methods, huh? This final session will allow participants to discuss and navigate the messiness of digital research and hopefully identify ways ahead. 

Moa Eriksson Krutrök

[Click for map with location]

The internet is vast and filled with problematic content, affecting people, algorithms and political agendas. This presentation will explore researching the less-visible parts of the digital, for example, the occurrence of radicalization online, or dissemination of problematic content on social media platforms. These are often part of digital processes that are difficult to access, and just as challenging to research.

Mathilda Åkerlund

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In this session we focus on two different partially hidden digital structures – government surveillance of digital systems and social media moderation. We will learn and discuss what methodological challenges and possibilities such hidden digital structures present for (legal) scholars. These are two areas that are, by design, opaque. Attempting to study the implications of legal mandates in this context through traditional legal methods is challenging, as legislation creates an intentional vagueness, while capacities and practicalities are avoided or described in general terms. Researching such topics thus requires us to reconstruct practices, allowing contours to emerge that can be analysed through traditional methodologies. In this workshop we will also explore if new legal demands for transparency can help researchers from all fields gain access to hidden digital structures. 

Markus Naarttijärvi
Therese Enarsson

The madness subsides. Or does it? We will end the symposium by looking back — what can we learn(?) — and ahead — how can we move forward? What are the social and societal implications of technologies, and how can we as researchers relate to them?

Simon Lindgren
Therese Enarsson