About

Astrid Mager is a scholar in Science and Technology Studies with a particular interest in internet technologies and socio-political developments. Her research is concerned with the internet and society, search engine policies, algorithmic systems and discrimination, data infrastructures and alternative tech, digitization and democracy, as well as digital methods against the background of science and technology studies and technology assessment.

Education

Born in 1977 and raised in Linz, she studied sociology and communication sciences at the University of Vienna. She ended her studies in 2002 with a master's thesis dealing with organ transplantation in Austrian media debates (Mag.rer.soc.oec.). From 2002-2003 she studied at the Université Paris Diderot (Erasmus grant). She also attended a number of workshops on internet research and network analysis by the Digital Methods Initiative (Amsterdam), which motivated her interest in internet research. She finished her PhD thesis on the Internet as a source of health information in 2010 at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, University of Vienna, supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ulrike Felt (Dr. phil.).

Experience

From 2004-2009 Astrid Mager worked as a research collaborator at the Department of Science and Technology Studies, mainly on the project "Virtually Informed. The Internet in the medical field" (FWF). From 2010 to 2012 she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at HUMlab, Umeå University, in Sweden where she investigated search engines and algorithmic ideologies.

Since 2012, Mager works at ITA having led the projects "Glocal Search" – Search technology at the intersection of global capitalism and local socio-political cultures" (OeNB), the FWF project "Algorithmic imaginaries. Visions and values in the shaping of search engines" (Elise Richter fellowship), and the project “AMS Algorithm” together with Doris Allhutter. Since November 2023 Mager works as a Senior Academy Scientist at ITA – currently in the project Automating Welfare.

Moreover, she teaches at the Institute of Science and Technology Studies and is co-editor of the peer-reviewed open access journal "Momentum Quarterly - Journal for social progress". In September 2024, Mager finished her habilitation “Algorithmic Imaginaries. Visions and values in the shaping of search engines” at the University of Vienna with a venia docendi in Science and Technology Studies (STS) (Privatdoz.).

In 2018, Mager was elected to the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She contributed to the ÖAW project „Academies for Global Innovation and Digital Ethics“ (AGIDE) and currently leads the ÖAW Commission “Democracy in digital societies” together with Barbara Prainsack.

Projects

Selected Publications

Her list of publications includes a number of articles in international journals – such as Social Studies of Science; New Media & Society; Policy & Internet; Information, Communication & Society – dealing with the Internet and medicine, and, more recently, search engines in contemporary capitalism.

Mag. Dr. Astrid Mager, Privatdoz.

Contact

Tel.: +43 (0)1 515 81-6598
Fax: (+43-1-) 515 81-6570
Bäckerstraße 13, 1010 Vienna
astrid.mager(at)oeaw.ac.at

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