Tool Criticism and the Computational Turn: A 'Methodological Moment' in Media and Communication Studies

As ever more data becomes available to work with, the use of digital tools within the
humanities and social sciences is becoming increasingly common. These digital tools are
often imported from other institutional contexts and were originally developed for other
purposes. They may harbour concepts and techniques that stand in tension with traditions
in the humanities and social sciences. Moreover, there are many easy-to-use tools for the
collection, processing and analysis of data that require no knowledge of their limitations.
Problematically, these tools are often assigned such values as reliability and transparency
when in fact they are active mediators caught up in the epistemic process. In this paper,
we highlight the need for a critical, reflexive attitude toward the tools we use in digital
methods. It is a plea for what we call “tool criticism” and an attempt to think through
what this mode of criticism would entail in practice for the academic field. The need for
tool criticism is contextualised in view of the emerging ideological and methodological
critique toward digital methods. Touching on the so-called science wars we explore
knowledge as a construction and consider the importance of accounting for knowledge
claims. These considerations open up an assessment of the accountability measures that
are being discussed and developed in our field by individuals and institutions alike. In
conclusion, we underscore the urgency of this endeavour and its vital role for media and
communication scholars