Following facial recognition technologies across social worlds: A situational analysis study protocol

Abstract

Facial recognition technologies (FRTs) are increasingly the subject of public debate, yet qualitative research that follows contemporary controversies around them remains fragmented and often limited to single sites or perspectives. This article presents the study protocol for fAIces (Facial Recognition Technologies. Etho-Assemblages and Alternative Futures), an Advanced Grant funded by the European Research Council using a multi-sited, multi-vocal qualitative design anchored in situational analysis. The study traces how FRTs are enacted, justified, contested, and reimagined across social worlds and settings by actors with divergent forms of expertise and vulnerability, including scientists, entrepreneurs, activists, Black communities, and artists. fAIces introduces and refines etho-assemblages as a conceptual lens for understanding the ethics of FRTs as situated, contested, and negotiated in practice, supporting the development of a sensitising and comprehensive qualitative study protocol that creatively intertwines procedural ethics and ethics-in-practice. Using situational analysis—through coding, mapping, and cross-site comparison—the study combines interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations, digital ethnography, and document analysis to explore positionality and interpretive differences. The fAIces project protocol contributes both practical tools for conducting multi-sited, multi-vocal qualitative studies, such as sampling strategies, mapping tools, and recruitment and consent procedures, and conceptual resources for engaging with the ethical complexity of emerging and contested technologies.