The Hidden Curators of AI: How Brokers Shape Technology
This event is produced and hosted by the University of Helsinki.
Date & Time: Thursday, September 18, 17:00– 19:00 EEST (in person in Helsinki)
Location: Think Corner, University of Helsinki (~30 min via public transportation from the EPIC2025 main venue)
Registration: Pre-registration is required. Sign up when you register for EPIC2025.
Cost: This event is free, but capacity is limited.
Overview
This event uncovers the critical role of brokers in AI and sociotechnical systems. Brokers connect data scientists, engineers, ethics, legal counsel, and business leaders to push for the integration of human values into technological development.
Brokers don’t just coordinate—they translate insights across fields, shaping how technology evolves to serve society. By bridging technical expertise with ethical and social considerations, brokers make technology more intentional and responsive.
Join us to hear from leading experts who will share approaches to effective brokering and technology development. Learn how vital this work is to future technology that is guided by insight, responsibility, and purpose.
Speakers
Eetu Mäkelä, Professor in Digital Humanities, University of Helsinki; Technological Director, DARIAH-FI
Eetu Mäkelä is a leading researcher and technologist who has won multiple awards for scholarship, open data, and open science. At the University of Helsinki, he leads a research group that seeks to figure out the technological, processual and theoretical underpinnings of successful computational research in the humanities and social sciences. He is also a director in the datafication research initiative of the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as a technological director at the DARIAH-FI, a new national research infrastructure created for the needs of data-intensive social sciences and humanities in Finland. Mäkelä has developed successful, lasting technical tools, for example with humanities researchers at the University of Oxford and with Finnish public libraries.
Sarah Pink, Professor and Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University
Sarah Pink is an award-winning futures anthropologist and documentary filmmaker and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship recipient. She is also a Professor and Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab and FUTURES Hub at Monash University. Previously, she was a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Digital Ethnography Centre at RMIT University. Sarah has published widely in the field of qualitative inquiry, authored the books Doing Visual Ethnography (2021, 4th edition) and Doing Sensory Ethnography (2015 2nd edition), and co-authored Digital Ethnography (2016) and Design Ethnography (2022). Her recent documentaries include Smart Homes for Seniors (2021) and Digital Energy Futures (2022).
Minna Ruckenstein, Professor of Emerging Technologies in Society, University of Helsinki
Minna Ruckenstein directs The Datafied Life Collaboratory, which studies processes of digitalization/datafication by highlighting emotional, social, political and economic aspects of data and algorithmic practices. Her currently funded research projects focus on public values in algorithmic futures, re-humanizing automated decision-making, repair and renewal of algorithmic systems and everyday engagements with digital technologies. This work focuses on everyday and organizational aspects of datafication in fields ranging from content moderation and advertising to digital health, insurance, and social work. Among many publications, Ruckenstein is co-editor of Everyday Automation: Experiencing and Anticipating Emerging Technologies (open access) and author of The Feel of Algorithms.