Posted on by Philipp Wicke

SC8 – Postdigital inequalities: bridging gaps via interdisciplinary, cross-sector dialogue

Lecturer: Sarah Hayes
Fields: Postdigital Inequalities, Artificial Intelligence, Sociology, Bioinformational Philosophy, Human Data Interaction, Ethics,

Content

This course, under the theme: Societies and Blurred Realities, examines postdigital inequalities , as these arise in different contexts, as a result of technologies that merge physical and virtual spaces, bioinformational data and human and artificial intelligence. Beginning with exploring our own postdigital positionalities (Hayes, 2021), where technology, language and our brains merge in our hybrid environments, we question how AI comes to reflect the values and inequities of the world in which it is created. Our changing digital identities, amid data-centric biology, are considered through research that examines the infrastructuring of educational genomics (Williamson, et. al., 2024).. Amid the uncertainty of AI mediation, our human data interactions and skills are explored to seek greater Agency, Legibility and Negotiability for postdigital inclusion of those who are marginalised (Hayes, et. al., 2023). Finally, we consider creative and innovative cross-sector partnerships that build from the ground in communities. A range of recent examples will be discussed, including citizen research and activism, collective articles, community innovation hubs and examining how universities might be centres of postdigital knowledge and collaboration, contributing to local and regional development by aligning their research with real-world policy needs.

Session 1 will cover: Postdigital positionality, where technology, language and our brains merge
Session 2 will cover: Digital identity: what exactly do we mean by this in a bioinformational society?
Session 3 will cover: Human Data Interaction, disadvantage, skills in the community, towards Ethtech
Session 4 will cover: Creative approaches to address postdigital inequalities and regain ourselves

Literature

  • Costello, E. (2024). Rewild my heart: With pedagogies of love, kindness and the sun and moon. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(2), 610-626.
  • Hayes, S., Connor, S., Johnson, M. and Jopling, M. (2023). Human Data Interaction, Disadvantageand Skills in the Community: Enabling Cross-Sector Environments for Postdigital Inclusion. Cham: Springer.
  • Hayes, S. (2021). Postdigital positionality: Developing powerful inclusive narratives for learning, teaching,research and policy in Higher Education. Leiden: Brill.
  • Hayes, S., Jandrić, P., la Velle, L. et al. (2024) Postdigital Citizen Science and Humanities: Dialogue from the Ground. Postdigit Sci Educ 7, 188–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00514-z
  • Jandrić, P., Ryberg, T., Knox, J., Lacković, N., Hayes, S., Suoranta, J., Smith, M., Steketee, A., Peters, M. A., McLaren, P., Ford, D. R., Asher, G., McGregor, C., Stewart, G., Williamson, B., & Gibbons, A. (2019). Postdigital dialogue.Postdigital Science and Education, 1(1), 163-189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-018-0011-x
  • Jandrić, P., & Hayes, S. (2021). Postdigital education in a biotech future. Policy Futures in Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103211049915
  • Kourkoulou, D., Tzirides, A.-O., Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2024). Trust and Inclusion in AI-Mediated Education: Where Human Learning Meets Learning Machines. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64487-0.
  • Kotouza, D. (2025). Genetics for ‘equality’? The politics of knowledge production in educational genomics. History of the Human Sciences, 09526951251314314.
  • Leonelli, Sabina. Data-Centric Biology: A Philosophical Study, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226416502
  • Matthewman S (2011) Technology and Social Theory. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Pangrazio, L., & Sefton-Green, J. (2023). Digital literacies as a ‘soft power’of educational governance. In World Yearbook of Education 2024 (pp. 196-211). Routledge.
  • Peters, M. A., Jandrić, P., & Hayes, S. (Eds.). (2022). Bioinformational philosophy and postdigital knowledge ecologies. Cham: Springer.
  • Raffaghelli, J.E., Ferrarelli, M. & Rodríguez, N.L. (2025) Slowness as Postdigital Positionality in the Era of Generative AI: A Conversation. Postdigital Science and Education
  • Reardon, J. (2019). The postgenomic condition: Ethics, justice, and knowledge after the genome. University of Chicago Press.
  • Ritzer, G., Ryan, J. M., Hayes, S., Elliot, M., & Jandrić, P. (2024). Epilogue: McDonaldization and Artifcial Intelligence. In D. Kourkoulou, A.-O. Tzirides, B. Cope, & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Trust and Inclusion in AI-mediated Education: Where Human Learning Meets Learning Machines (pp. 303-321). Cham: Springer.
  • Williamson, B., Kotouza, D., Pickersgill, M., & Pykett, J. (2024). Infrastructuring educational genomics: Associations, architectures, and apparatuses. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(4), 1143-1172.

Lecturer

Sarah Hayes, PFHEA, is Professor of Education & Research Lead at Bath Spa University. Her PhD was in Sociology, from Aston University, UK, and her research includes linguistic analysis of policy and examining society through a postdigital lens. Sarah wrote: ‘The Labour of Words in Higher Education’ (2019), ‘Postdigital Positionality’ (2021) and co-edited ‘Bioinformational Philosophy and Postdigital Knowledge Ecologies (2022) and the EPSRC funded Human Data Interaction, Disadvantage and Skills in the Community. She has taught Sociology, Education and Computing, and is an Associate Editor for the Springer journal: Postdigital Science and Education.

Affiliation: Bath Spa University
Homepage: https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/our-people/sarah-hayes/