Today, I end my 3-month-and-half visit to Churchill College, University of Cambridge where I am a By-Fellow. It has been an amazingly enriching experience and I gratefully acknowledge financial support from the French Embassy in the United Kingdom. Colleges are special places where traditional elitism mixes with more modern tendencies toward openness and diversity. I think the great value of colleges rests in their deeply interdisciplinary culture – way beyond what one may find in university departments and research centres. In my short stay, I have had lots of mind-opening conversations with scholars from all domains (often while enjoying a nice meal together), always with the feeling that people listen and learn from each other rather than that sense of constant competition that I have often perceived when crossing disciplinary boundaries.
My by-fellowship would not have been possible without the support of Gina Neff and her colleagues at Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy who hosted me. They are doing extremely valuable work to rethink the social and environmental impact of technologies and to promote innovative and more sustainable ways forward. I was also honoured to collaborate with the team of Cambridge Digital Humanities, especially Anne Alexander who directs the Learning programme and invited me to give two sessions on social network analysis at the Social data School last June. Finally, I thank the director and the members of the CRASSH research centre (where Minderoo is based) who kindly welcomed me at their offices and gave me the opportunity to attend some of their recent events.
Data Big and Small 