Anu Masso
@taltech.ee
Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance
Tallinn University of Technology
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Social datafication, social transformations, research methods
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Anne Kaun, Anders Olof Larsson, and Anu Masso
Informa UK Limited
Anu Masso, Tayfun Kasapoglu, Anne Kaun, and Vasilis Galis
Informa UK Limited
Anne Kaun, Anders Olof Larsson, and Anu Masso
Informa UK Limited
Anu Masso, Maris Männiste, and Stefano Calzati
Elsevier BV
Pauline Baudens, Anu Masso, and Ralf-Martin Soe
Informa UK Limited
Abstract This paper investigates the shift in (im)mobility through the digitalization of practices, based on the views of women working in a multinational IT company in Pune, India. The digital phenomenon, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, influences all areas of society, pushing forward the online economy and transforming daily strategies by facilitating mobility and enabling immobility. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 digitally active female participants to determine the role of digital tools in transforming their daily planning strategy, and in motivating their (im)mobility decision. The results demonstrated that the evolution of commuting practices and the adoption of digital platform solutions, as seen by the women themselves, were closely related to their desire for comfortable mobility implying time control and optimization to better complete professional and household duties. The task of driving appeared to be the main avoidance due to inevitable hectic traffic, favoring the use of taxis or company cabs presuming financial status. A preference was given to work from home, and basically to immobility as mobility was regarded as time-consuming. Overall, these digitally privileged women carried out diverse (im)mobility strategies according to their perceptions and multiple structural factors.
Anu Masso, Anne Kaun, and Colin van Noordt
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
AbstractIncreasing attention is paid to ethical issues and values when designing and deploying artificial intelligence (AI). However, we do not know how those values are embedded in artificial artefacts or how relevant they are to the population exposed to and interacting with AI applications. Based on literature engaging with ethical principles and moral values in AI, we designed an original survey instrument, including 15 value components, to estimate the importance of these values to people in the general population. The article is based on representative surveys conducted in Estonia, Germany, and Sweden (n = 4501), which have varying experiences with implementing AI. The factor analysis showed four underlying dimensions of values embedded in the design and use of AI: (1) protection of personal interests to ensure social benefit, (2) general monitoring to ensure universal solidarity, (3) ensuring social diversity and social sustainability, and (4) efficiency. We found that value types can be ordered along the two dimensions of resources and change. The comparison between countries revealed that some dimensions, like social diversity and sustainability evaluations, are more universally valued among individuals, countries, and domains. Based on our analysis, we suggest a need and a framework for developing basic values in AI.
Anu Masso, Martha Chukwu, and Stefano Calzati
SAGE Publications
This study explores relocated algorithmic governance through a qualitative study of the Ubenwa health app. The Ubenwa, which was developed in Canada based on a dataset of babies from Mexico, is currently being implemented in Nigeria to detect birth asphyxia. The app serves as an ideal case for examining the socio-cultural negotiations involved in re-contextualising algorithmic technology. We conducted in-depth interviews with parents, medical practitioners and data experts in Nigeria; the interviews reveal individuals’ perceptions about algorithmic governance and self-determination. In particular, our study presents people’s insights about (1) relocated algorithms as socially dynamic ‘contextual settings’, (2) the (non)negotiable spaces that these algorithmic solutions potentially create and (3) the general implications of re-contextualising algorithmic governance. This article illustrates that relocated algorithmic solutions are perceived as ‘cosmopolitan data localisms’ that extend the spatial scales and multiply localities rather than as ‘data glocalisation’ or the indigenisation of globally distributed technology.
Ene Selart and Anu Masso
SA Kultuurileht
P Tammpuu, A Masso, M Ibrahimi, and T Abaku
Estonian Academy Publishers
Anniki Puura, Siiri Silm, and Anu Masso
Elsevier BV
Tamunonengiyeofori Abaku, Stefano Calzati, and Anu Masso
Emerald
Purpose This paper aims to take the lead from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 and 10 – foster “resilient infrastructures and inclusive innovation” and “reduce disparities of opportunities, income and power” – as key for digital sustainability. Moving beyond existing research, here this paper conceptualise “digital sustainability” as a framework for analysing the sustainability of digital services. Design/methodology/approach Combining different works, this paper identifies five dimensions: social, economic, institutional, environmental and technical. The framework is then tested on Estonia’s e-residency program, of which, in this way, this paper explores the potential digital sustainability. By allowing anyone to run location-independent businesses as if virtually in Estonia, the e-residency program aligns to what SDGs 9 and 10 prescribe in terms of socio-economic inclusiveness and inclusive innovation. As such, the program is particularly valuable for citizens from developing countries in that it gives them access to European markets. Hence, to explore e-residency’s digital sustainability, this paper focuses on the experiences of African e-residents. Findings In-depth interviews highlight a series of criticalities involving one or more dimensions of the framework. This is because of the program having a global outreach by default but not accommodating contextual diversity by design. Originality/value Suggestions for improving the program are provided, alongside the recommendation to also include the cultural dimension into the conceptualisation of digital sustainability.
Olle Järv, Anu Masso, Siiri Silm, and Rein Ahas
Wiley
Tayfun Kasapoglu, Anu Masso, and Stefano Calzati
Elsevier BV
Siiri Silm, Veronika Mooses, Anniki Puura, Anu Masso, Ago Tominga, and Erki Saluveer
Cogitatio
This study is a contribution to the discussion on the ethnic segregation cycle, through the examination of individuals’ activity spaces—including residence and workplace—and from the perspective of social networks. Bridging social ties can be a key factor in higher minority inclusion and in breaking the vicious circle of segregation. We compare the spatial behaviour of two ethno-linguistic population groups living in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city (Estonian-speaking majority and Russian-speaking minority), each of which have co- and interethnic social networks, through the use of mobile positioning (call detail records) and call-graph data. Among our main findings, we show firstly that interethnic social networks are more common for the Russian-speaking minority population. The probability of having an interethnic network is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the residential district concerned; districts with a higher proportion of residents from another ethnic group tend to favour interethnic networks more. Secondly, the activity space is related to the ethno-linguistic composition of the social networks. Spatial behaviour is most expansive for Estonian speakers with co-ethnic networks, and most constrained for Russian speakers with co-ethnic networks. At the same time, speakers of Estonian and Russian with interethnic networks show rather similar spatial behaviours: They tend to visit more districts where the proportion of people from the other ethno-linguistic group is higher. Interethnic networks are therefore related to spatial behaviour, which can indicate interethnic meeting points and locations, something that is regarded as being important in assimilation and segregation cycle theories.
Anu Masso and Tayfun Kasapoglu
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT This study explores the differences and similarities between the perceptions of data experts and refugees as data subjects, in the context of a refugee relocation algorithm. The study conducted in-depth interviews with data experts and Syrian refugees in Estonia and Turkey. The results indicate that both refugees and data experts acknowledge the algorithms’ potential power for structuring the everyday life experiences of people. Whereas refugees mainly focused on cultural and social concerns, the data experts underlined the importance of refugees’ agency and the potential drawbacks of algorithms in terms of transparency and accountability. While both groups of interviewees thought the relocation algorithm could be useful especially in economic terms, the study demonstrates that algorithms create complex power relations and place extra pressure on both refugees and data experts. The new digital landscapes produced by algorithms entail a ‘triple agency’ – an agency of experts developing and using these datafied solutions, an agency of data subjects being targets of those calculations, and an agency of algorithms. For solving the issue of ‘false authority’, where the modelling of spatial choice cannot grasp the socio-cultural reality, it is necessary to consider the socio-cultural context of the calculative devices. A paradigm shift in machine learning is necessary from learning machines as autonomous subjects to machines learning from social contexts and individuals’ experiences. Rather than experimenting with algorithmic solutions to speed up decisions about human lives, migration policies and relevant datafied solutions should consider the diversity of human experiences expressed in individuals’ everyday life.
Anu Masso, , Maris Männiste, Andra Siibak, , and
Department of International Relations
emerging digital data sources provide opportunities for explaining social processes, but also challenge knowledge production practices within social sciences. this article contributes to the ‘end of theory’ discussions, which have intensified in the social sciences since the widening practice of big data and computational methods. Adopting a systematic literature review of 120 empirical articles through a combined quantitative and qualitative approach, this article strives to contribute to the ongoing discussions on the epistemological shifts in social media big data (smBD) studies. This study offers an insight into the development of analytical methods and research practices in smBD studies during their rapid growth
Elmar Schlueter, Anu Masso, and Eldad Davidov
Informa UK Limited
ABSTRACT What factors explain majority members’ anti-Muslim prejudice? This is an increasingly important question to ask, but to date only relatively few studies have sought to provide answers from a cross-national comparative perspective. This study aims to help fill this gap. Using data from the seventh round of the European Social Survey (ESS) linked with country-level characteristics, our results indicate that (a) a larger Muslim population size, (b) more liberal immigrant integration policies and (c) greater state support of religion are all associated with lower levels of majority members’ negative attitudes towards Muslim immigration – our indicator of anti-Muslim prejudice. Such attitudes, however, prove to be unrelated to (d) cross-national differences in the frequency of negative immigration-related news reports as measured by the ESS media claims data. Collectively, these findings bring us one important step closer towards a better understanding of interethnic relations between majority members and Muslim immigrants in European host societies.
Piia Tammpuu and Anu Masso
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Anu Masso, Siiri Silm, and Rein Ahas
Wiley
Abstract This article focuses on generational differences in spatial mobility. Assuming that the ability to cope with the social transformations related to growing mobility varies significantly across generations, we use mobile positioning data collected in Estonia during 2014 providing four main indicators, namely, the number of locations visited and the distances between visited locations, within Estonia and abroad. The results indicate that spatial mobility declines linearly with age; however, a high degree of heterogeneity exists within age groups. Whereas the spatial mobility of the most active members of the younger generation takes place mostly within Estonia, among the most active older generation focus their activity beyond its borders. The study reveals “delayed mobility” patterns among the most active groups of the older generation and a new “immobility culture” among the younger generation in terms of cross‐border activities in a transition society.
Piia Tammpuu and Anu Masso
SAGE Publications
In this article, we examine the reconstruction and commodification of the national space through digital technologies by using the case of Estonian e-residency. E-residency or ‘virtual residency’ is an initiative of the Estonian government which gives foreigners global access to Estonian e-services via state-issued digital identity. We explore the ways in which the ideas of the ‘virtual state’ and ‘virtual residency’ have been employed for purposes of nation branding and national reputation management, and how the different logics of nation branding and nation building combined in the concept of e-residency have been negotiated in the national context. The study draws on a qualitative textual analysis of the official website of e-residency directed at foreign audiences and the national media coverage of the project addressing domestic publics. The analysis indicates that while the imagery constructed around the notions of the ‘virtual state’ and ‘virtual residency’ makes it possible to turn the national space into a commodity, presented outwards as a globally extensible and open transnational space, domestically it makes it possible to appeal to ‘intact national space’ and to legitimise e-residency as a ‘socio-culturally safe’, digitally mediated internationalisation of the society. This article forms part of the Theorizing Media in Nation Branding Special Issue.
Andra Siibak and Anu Masso
ACM
This study strives to contribute in explaining the mechanisms and role of homogeneous social media communities in formation of ethnic prejudice, the phenomena being often named in the literature as echo chamber effect. The paper will present the findings of a qualitative study carried out with the active members of the biggest public Estonian-language based anti-immigration Facebook group "Estonians against refugee quotas". Semi-structured individual interviews (N=12) with members of the group were carried out in spring 2016 with an aim to find out their reasons and motivation behind joining an anti-immigration community in Facebook. Furthermore, our intention was also to study what kind of role the members of the group apply to social media and their Facebook group in particular, in Estonian public debates about the refugee crises. We were able to differentiate between both institutional/regional-, national/institutional-, individual- and interactional level drivers behind joining the Facebook community.
V Kalmus, A Masso, S Opermann, and K Täht
Estonian Academy Publishers
Although the literature has paid a lot of attention to the importance of mobile digital media in shaping people’s perception of personal and social time, little empirical research has focused on these issues. We aim at bridging this gap by testing empirically a hypothesis that shared perceptions of social life in the smartphone era vary generationally. The analysis, based on representative survey data collected in Estonia in 2014 (n = 573), revealed three underlying dimensions of the perceptions of smartphone use: (1) Expanding flexibility and diverse opportunities, (2) Vanishing boundaries and foci, and (3) Changing social identity and communication conventions. Generational differences manifested in the case of the first and the second dimension, lending support to the initial hypothesis. In the case of the third dimension, other structural factors, time use and subjective perceptions of personal time, rather than generational differences, explained the variation in the perceptions of smartphone use.