Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Digital DNA (The changing relationships between digital technologies, DNA and evidence)
Période du rapport: 2023-02-01 au 2024-07-31
The relationship between digital technologies and DNA is changing so rapidly and profoundly that in-depth and creative analyses of the links between them are urgently needed. Digital innovations in DNA analysis affect the ways in which DNA is used for identification and investigation. Algorithms are written to predict looks and behavior from DNA, commercial providers build large DNA databases to investigate genealogies, and eDNA technologies can collect human DNA traces from the air. At the same time, DNA also changes digital technologies, for example when DNA is used as a software in molecular computing, or as a storage medium. Digital DNA provides pioneering empirical insights and theorization on the mutual influence of digital technologies and DNA. The project defines an emerging field: the digitization of DNA analysis and the influence of DNA on digital technologies. It provides systematic interdisciplinary studies on three sets of developments.
1. Changes in hardware. It investigates how low- and high-tech hardware influence the processing of DNA for identification and investigation, and how DNA is used as hardware in computing.
2. Changes in databases and analytic instruments, i.e. how a growth in DNA databases and their algorithmic analysis influence the production of DNA for identification and investigation, and to what extent digital databases and algorithms are associated with robust and scientific reasoning.
3. Changes in information per se: how the ability to alter DNA influences the production of identification and investigation, and how DNA influences the concept of digital data.
Current debates tend to focus on ethical, legal and societal aspects of innovations in DNA analysis. Digital DNA focuses on more fundamental developments: how DNA changes when it is integrated with digital technologies, in what ways DNA has become biometric data, shaping new cultures of surveillance and identification, and the re-orientation that digital data and technologies undergo when they are integrated with DNA. A unique combination of methods from the social sciences, information studies and natural sciences is used in the project.
1. Changes in hardware. It investigates how low- and high-tech hardware influence the processing of DNA for identification and investigation, and how DNA is used as hardware in computing.
2. Changes in databases and analytic instruments, i.e. how a growth in DNA databases and their algorithmic analysis influence the production of DNA for identification and investigation, and to what extent digital databases and algorithms are associated with robust and scientific reasoning.
3. Changes in information per se: how the ability to alter DNA influences the production of identification and investigation, and how DNA influences the concept of digital data.
Current debates tend to focus on ethical, legal and societal aspects of innovations in DNA analysis. Digital DNA focuses on more fundamental developments: how DNA changes when it is integrated with digital technologies, in what ways DNA has become biometric data, shaping new cultures of surveillance and identification, and the re-orientation that digital data and technologies undergo when they are integrated with DNA. A unique combination of methods from the social sciences, information studies and natural sciences is used in the project.
Digital DNA has produced a solid base of empirical data:
- participant observation at scientific events, fairs
- material from websites, webinars, social media
- observation in labs for forensics & molecular computing; technology demos; police stations; tech startups
- conducting DNA sequencing
- over 70 interviews
This rich empirical material enables substantial and novel analytic projects about practices of scientific knowledge-making in forensics, the police, in molecular computing, but also in companies.
So far, Digital DNA analyzed continuities between traditional and modern forms of predictions from biometric data. Further analyses have traced how DNA data come about, which analog and digital technologies they depend on and how DNA data turn “big”. These processes are key to understand how DNA data are productive, when and how DNA fails, and to what extent DNA analyses reflect design decisions, impact investigative work and nurture specific narratives of identification. Additional analyses address regulatory and ethical concerns in the use of “big” DNA methods, the rising role of algorithmic logics in “big” DNA analysis and its impact on identities.
A different set of studies focuses on molecular computing as an emergent techno-scientific field. Here, analyses identify challenges that arise at the intersection of computer science and molecular biology, but also current and future applications of molecular technology with an eye to ethical and societal risks.
Together, the work on these tasks have yielded 3 published articles, 1 forthcoming chapter, 2 submitted articles and 6 forthcoming contributions to the Handbook of Digital Criminology, co-edited by the PI. These results are disseminated broadly at conferences, in open editorials, and discussions with policymakers and practitioners.
At the co-organized conference “Evidence in Motion” polarized research fields and practitioners were brought together to develop a common language, to discuss issues and solutions. This interdisciplinary focus and the closeness to practice and policy are one of the project’s strengths. The Norwegian Data Protection Commission invited the PI to comment on the role of data in police work, which was quoted in their 2022 report to the Norwegian government. The project created national momentum when the PI as sole recipient received the University of Oslo’s 2023 Award for Young Researchers for her work at “the intersection of technology, genetics and social security”.
- participant observation at scientific events, fairs
- material from websites, webinars, social media
- observation in labs for forensics & molecular computing; technology demos; police stations; tech startups
- conducting DNA sequencing
- over 70 interviews
This rich empirical material enables substantial and novel analytic projects about practices of scientific knowledge-making in forensics, the police, in molecular computing, but also in companies.
So far, Digital DNA analyzed continuities between traditional and modern forms of predictions from biometric data. Further analyses have traced how DNA data come about, which analog and digital technologies they depend on and how DNA data turn “big”. These processes are key to understand how DNA data are productive, when and how DNA fails, and to what extent DNA analyses reflect design decisions, impact investigative work and nurture specific narratives of identification. Additional analyses address regulatory and ethical concerns in the use of “big” DNA methods, the rising role of algorithmic logics in “big” DNA analysis and its impact on identities.
A different set of studies focuses on molecular computing as an emergent techno-scientific field. Here, analyses identify challenges that arise at the intersection of computer science and molecular biology, but also current and future applications of molecular technology with an eye to ethical and societal risks.
Together, the work on these tasks have yielded 3 published articles, 1 forthcoming chapter, 2 submitted articles and 6 forthcoming contributions to the Handbook of Digital Criminology, co-edited by the PI. These results are disseminated broadly at conferences, in open editorials, and discussions with policymakers and practitioners.
At the co-organized conference “Evidence in Motion” polarized research fields and practitioners were brought together to develop a common language, to discuss issues and solutions. This interdisciplinary focus and the closeness to practice and policy are one of the project’s strengths. The Norwegian Data Protection Commission invited the PI to comment on the role of data in police work, which was quoted in their 2022 report to the Norwegian government. The project created national momentum when the PI as sole recipient received the University of Oslo’s 2023 Award for Young Researchers for her work at “the intersection of technology, genetics and social security”.
A trend that emerges from the project’s data is a move towards a domestication of DNA and its analysis as observable in the commodification of DNA analyses, new fields of application for DNA as a means of identification, as well as cultures of DIY DNA analysis. These phenomena are symptomatic of the increasing digitization, storage, availability and surveillance of DNA – a central analytic focus of the project. This normalization, spread and domestication of DNA is a unique finding of this project and in need of discussion as DNA’s growing status as biometric data cuts across law enforcement and everyday life. The coming project period will deepen this focus.
Another development showing the political character of DNA analyses is the growing interest in using DNA for identifying behavior and risk. Such analyses become particularly contentious in the field of law enforcement. While this aspect is already part of current analyses, the project will deepen these in the future.
The project proposal’s future scenario on the rise of synthetic DNA and the impact on its status as a means of identification has recently become invigorated by the application of Large Language Models to DNA data. This dramatic development emphasizes the relevance of the proposal’s original hypothesis and provides various empirical entry points for research to be done in scenario workshops.
Digital DNA will continue the dialogue between academics and practitioners. Beyond publications in the respective outlets it foresees the development of an online seminar series and another conference. Its aim is to continue to establish research on genetics and digital technologies in Criminology. The project also plans for an artistic output to problematize the project’s themes in new formats that reach beyond scholarly audiences.
Another development showing the political character of DNA analyses is the growing interest in using DNA for identifying behavior and risk. Such analyses become particularly contentious in the field of law enforcement. While this aspect is already part of current analyses, the project will deepen these in the future.
The project proposal’s future scenario on the rise of synthetic DNA and the impact on its status as a means of identification has recently become invigorated by the application of Large Language Models to DNA data. This dramatic development emphasizes the relevance of the proposal’s original hypothesis and provides various empirical entry points for research to be done in scenario workshops.
Digital DNA will continue the dialogue between academics and practitioners. Beyond publications in the respective outlets it foresees the development of an online seminar series and another conference. Its aim is to continue to establish research on genetics and digital technologies in Criminology. The project also plans for an artistic output to problematize the project’s themes in new formats that reach beyond scholarly audiences.