The Affordances of Pragmatism for a Postdigital Citizen Social Science

Abstract

In efforts to inform a postdigital citizen social science, this paper argues that the traditions of pragmatism are a rich resource for enacting a postdigital citizen social science’s commitment to dialogue and collaboration. Claims as to the value of pragmatism for informing a postdigital citizen social science are rehearsed and assessed through an extension of the Human Data Interaction framework to an engagement with the ‘small’ data and associated regimes that constitute a global governing complex in education. A datafication of education policy and practice offers an unprecedented challenge and opportunity for a postdigital citizen social science, to not only contend and reconfigure the forms and functions of data regimes but also seek to (re)open a neglected epistemological terrain for exploring how data could and should be used to inform education policy and practice. It is asserted that an encounter between pragmatism and a postdigital citizen social science practice, affirms and enriches efforts to enact dialogue with diverse publics, with the aim of generating actionable insights, where what works is itself, a question open to scrutiny and revision.