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Paper short abstract

Focusing on the relationality of air and data, this paper argues that air is co-created through (non)human sensing practices. It explores how air is known through DIY air sensing, shaping the relationship with air through moments of uncertainty and negotiation.

Paper long abstract

This paper explores how air can be encountered in collaboration with—and through—sensors. We argue that air is co-created through (non)human sensing practices. This co-creation constitutes datafied air as relational, rather than seemingly intangible, invisible and abstract (see Calvillo, 2023). While “good enough” citizen air data can enable more inclusive involvement (Gabrys et al., 2016), there are also different ways to interact with air pollution when its presence already has been determined (Calvillo, 2018). These examples illustrate instances where the need for formal expertise to ‘know’ datafied air is contested. Considering such practices beyond formal expertise, we thus ask: How is air made knowable through situated sense-making practices in DIY air sensing?

Focusing on the relationality of both, data and air, we created an air sensor kit, ‘Patchy Air’. We built ‘Patchy Air’ as part of our collaborative autoethnographic work between January and December 2025. To investigate our question, field notes, pictures, and the sensor kit itself are used for analysis. While the field notes are written and analysed by the first author, making the sensor kit and co-creating knowledge throughout the process are shared collaboratively. Emerging themes highlight the trying—and failing—throughout the making process, and the negotiation between private and professional roles. Finally, the paper discusses how diverse actors co-create and know air through datafied ‘sense-making’, and how more-than-human collaboration challenges the traditional distinctions of expertise, shaping the relationship with air through uncertainty and negotiation.

Keywords: air, DIY air sensing, co-creation, sense-making, autoethnography