Overview
Professor Malte Ziewitz studies the changing role of science, technology, and computation in our lives—the dynamics at work, the values at stake, the design options at hand. His work is ethnographic in orientation, paying close attention to how computational technologies are established, undermined, maintained, and challenged on a daily basis. His recent work looked at the lived experiences of credit scoring subjects, the search engine optimization (SEO) industry, and attempts at algorithmic regulation.
His research has been supported by an NSF Career Award, a McCloy Fellowship, a PGP Corporation Scholarship, and grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the NSF. At Cornell, he directs the Digital Due Process Clinic. During the 2023-2024 academic year, he was a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ.
Previously, Malte was a postdoctoral fellow at New York University's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and Information Law Institute. He also worked as a junior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University, an M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a First State Exam in Law from the University of Hamburg.
On research leave until January 2025
Research Focus
Science & technology studies (STS); sociology of (e)valuation; mundane governance; digital media; audit cultures; ethnography; ethnomethodology
Publications
- Ziewitz M (2024). On STS and Valuation. In: Krüger A. K., Peetz T. and H. Schäfer (eds): The Routledge International Handbook of Valuation and Society. Abingdon; New York, NY: Routledge.
- Meisner C, Duffy B, and Ziewitz M (2022). The Labor of Search Quality Rating: Making Algorithms More Human or Humans More Algorithmic? New Media & Society. OnlineFirst: 14614448211063860.
- Ziewitz, M. and R. Singh (2021). Critical companionship: Some sensibilities for studying the lived experience of data subjects. Big Data & Society 8(2): 20539517211061120.
- Ziewitz, M. (2019). Rethinking gaming: The ethical work of optimization in web search engines. Social Studies of Science 49(5): 707-731.
- Ziewitz, M. and M. Lynch (2018). It's important to go to the laboratory: Malte Ziewitz Talks with Michael Lynch. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 4: 366-385.
- Ziewitz, M. (2017). A not quite random walk: Experimenting with the ethnomethods of the algorithm. Big Data & Society 4(2): 1-13.
- Ziewitz, M. (2017). Experience in action: Moderating care in web-based patient feedback. Social Science & Medicine 175: 99-108.
- Ziewitz, M. (2016). Governing algorithms: Myth, mess, and methods. Science, Technology, and Human Values 41(1): 3-16.
- Ziewitz, M. and C. Pentzold (2014). In search of internet governance: Performing order in digitally networked environments. New Media & Society 16(2): 306-322.
- Barocas, S., Hood, S. and M. Ziewitz (2013). Governing algorithms: A provocation piece. Discussion paper for Governing Algorithms conference, May 16-17, 2013.
- Ziewitz, M. and I. Brown (2013). A prehistory of internet governance. In Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet, ed I. Brown, 3-26. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.