The situated power of computational empowerment

Abstract

Processes of computational empowerment necessarily involve changing the relationships of power between children, digital technologies, and social contexts. However, research into computational empowerment rarely explicates a theory of power nor reflects on the dynamics of power implicated in attempts at empowerment. The purpose of this article is thus to investigate the problem of power in computational empowerment. The method applied is one of empirical philosophy. The article utilizes three paradigmatic cases describing how the power of computational empowerment is a matter of situated knowledge and agency, an outcome of invisible work, and a question of ontological politics.