Curating A Digital Platform, Researching The Knowledge Infrastructures Of Public Health

This paper will present a digital platform experiment at the intersection of STS and public health. Originally based on a project that focused on epidemiological risk scores as knowledge translation devices in public health, the platform addresses the formation of "life by the algorithm" more broadly. It foregrounds empirical research materials – thereby re-examining and opening them up for different orderings. Developing the platform, we pursued a curatorial mode of "following the algorithm" and investigating the lynchpins of digitalization in health research and everyday life. In particular, we focused on the ways in which data routines mobilize population infrastructures in everyday practices. The open platform was inspired by the research project but then followed the empirical materials into new spaces together with other professionals. This required us to engage differently with design aspects and “story telling”, foregrounding specific parts and moments within our materials. We will address some of the curatorial challenges in the encounters with programmers, designers and advisors as well as in the need for maintenance and caretaking beyond publication in order to keep alive such experimental forms.