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Koen Hufkens, PhDkoen_hufkens@mastodon.social
Oct 24, 2026, 1:18 PM
@frincon @hannorein @keithnator3000 And I'm going to add one last thing here - before I stop this rant. There is this misconception that data and code is apolitical (especially within academia). This has led to a lot of these issues. Where power dynamics with respect to code and data are not acknowledged, honoured or abused. Even collecting data is political and not until recently fully acknowledged. The political dimension of doing science is HUGE blank spot for a lot of academics.
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François Rinconfrincon@sciences.re
Oct 24, 2026, 1:20 PM
@koen_hufkens @hannorein @keithnator3000 yes i agree with this.
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Keith Böhlerkeithnator3000@universeodon.com
Oct 26, 2026, 2:44 PM
@koen_hufkens @frincon @hannorein
Not disagreeing, but do you have something more on the political dimension of doing science?
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Koen Hufkens, PhDkoen_hufkens@mastodon.social
Oct 26, 2026, 4:07 PM
@keithnator3000 @frincon @hannorein The general gist of it is that even abstract concepts such as data and code ultimately touch people. This makes it political. However, many scientific domains like to keep things abstract and forget to acknowledge the human component.
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Koen Hufkens, PhDkoen_hufkens@mastodon.social
Oct 26, 2026, 4:09 PM
@keithnator3000 @frincon @hannorein This can play out on many levels, from the where and what of collecting data (e.g. violations of indigenous rights), the processing of said data (failing to acknowledge field work / students with credit flowing to the top), aggregation of data in meta-work as a power play (where large labs use their clout to coerce unbalanced data sharing agreements). Layered on top of that are similar code dynamics.
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Koen Hufkens, PhDkoen_hufkens@mastodon.social
Oct 26, 2026, 4:11 PM
@keithnator3000 @frincon @hannorein On top of that is the fact that science is still a very vertically integrated business, with all the problems it brings, despite claims otherwise (i.e. merit).
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