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*The more accurate, substantial title of the course: The Value of DataLecture 1: Data + …media/ platforms/ infrastructures
Torra: extension that allows you to navigate through websites anonymously
Incognito mode doesn’t mean anonymous!!
Part 1: What’s in a title
o What is data?
o What is media?
o What is social media?
o What is value?
o ...What is the value of social media data?
Data
Origin from the latin word “datum” = that which is given
However:
This given-ness is phenomenological, not ontological
It would be a naïve approach that data exist naturally, falls from the sky
From data science perspective: Raw data exists
Raw data is collected in a messy way, directly from the source;
Cooked data is those that are processed, organized, analyzed…
From our perspective: Data is never raw, always constructed
Just like ingredients, data have a production process/ there are always some step
before data comes into existence: cultivated, harvested, farmed, killed, packaged,
distributed…
Data are historical products, calculated outcomes, analytical abstractions – never the
thing they try to represent, just its portrayal
-> Data are given…by/ to/ with/ through “someone” and “something”
Example: Like button on Facebook/ Instagram, which is a digital object invented not only to
register what content you like but not a perfect a representation of the things u like, also
depends on the existence of the objects which depends on facebook strategy, algorithm that
populated ur newsfeed… -> We need to problematize data sets
,2 distinct / complementary meanings:
Research data: ʻFacts or statistics collected for reference or analysis’
Not only quantitative but also qualitative
Digital data: Quantities, characters, or symbols on which operations are performed by a
computerʼ [Wikipedia]
It is important to understand data doesn’t just exist in digital form, but digital
infrastructures contribute to the proliferation of data
With the rise of (so-called) ʻbig dataʼ: research & digital data overlap, becoming more of the
same
Digital-based methods in science, research, activism, etc.
Social media analysis in marketing, business, management, etc.
→ our understanding of data starts with ʻdigital dataʼ but often trespasses into ʻresearch dataʼ
→ not all data are digital, even though we usually refer so
Media
Origin from the latin word “medius” = middle
However, they are more than something in the middle.
Media are also:
Channels: where information is transmitted and repeated
Generalistic perspective used when we talk about transferring data
Problems that occur are referred to as noise that needs to be minimized and preserved
Environments: where information is enabled or constrained
The background of a system, influence what happens on the system quite dramatically
A step further, what happens is not just noise but emphasizes data and information pass
by and social system develops
Example: political competition is highly mediatized
Mediators: Nudge, encourage, and direct certain phenomenon
Elements that even more actively intervene in how things go
We no longer see media as the background but the participant that makes a difference
Media is seen on the same level as an individual, we look at the interaction between
two
Particularly important in socio-technical
Actors: Seek and do things
The center of action
Useful for political economy perspective
,Example: Facebook
- A channel where we communicate with our friends
- Provide an environment where certain actions (comment, like, share) are possible
- Nudge us into interacting more with people/ content
- Is well known as a company with specific goals and strategies
- Is an area where brands compete for users’ attention
→ We now understand media not just as channels that repeat information (middle object), but
as technical objects entangled with sociality at various levels
(Social) Digital media
Digital origin from “digitus” = finger
Not really because you type and touch screens with fingers
Make use of discrete numbers (digits) to represent information
Digital information can be way more easily, efficiently computed by machines
Easy storage, transportation, processing, replication, remix…
The malleable, easy to combined and float around traits of digital format explains the
proliferation of data
From the WWW to social media platforms
From static to dynamic
We used to load a web page and it always looks the same >< Content is personalized,
things move or are different when you change certain settings
From syntactic to semantic web
The old WWW was interpreted as an archive that one needs to browse with one’s own
ability, and interpretation of data depends on the individual’s mind >< Information is
organized in a way that finds you, algorithm tunes themselves automatically
From information to sociality
A place to find information >< The appearance of chat rooms led to Web 2.0 aka social
web, where most of our online experience is based on interacting with people
From top-down to bottom-up (user-generated)
Few web masters create their websites and other people use them with fairly few
actions >< Users constantly download, consume, produce, upload data
From dualism to integration
There used to exist a clear difference between online and offline >< The line is blurred;
When you share something online, it reflects and affects real life
→ Digital media as computation-based technology
, → This course is centered around, but not solely, social media
Value
Origin from “valere” = to be worth
However
Can be intrinsic or extrinsic
Something has value itself vs. We attribute value to it
Use value (bc it serves someone’s needs) vs. Exchange value (bc it is particularly wanted
on the market)
It is not given, rather contextual
Not abstract or objective, something has value within a certain context
Influenced by time, cultural norms, political wheel, technology…
Different types: Economic value, moral value, affective value…
Is subject to processes: extraction, destruction, appropriation, circulation, distribution…
Example: Oil
- Has great economic value, and who controls it acquires political value.
- However, the process of obtaining, processing and consuming oil has a negative social
value for humanity and the planet.
- There exist alternatives to oil, but we lack technological conditions, economic
incentives, political willingness and /or cultural habits to make a switch.
- The appropriate combination of technological innovation, economic subsidies, political
transformations and /or cultural renovation could make this mass of liquified dinosaurs
and the corrupted elite controlling it completely useless.
→ Value as a multi-dimensional and dynamic property, dependent on social and technical
factors
Part 2: The socio-technical perspective
o Beyond socio- and techno- determinisms
o From media studies to critical data studies
Socio- + Techno
Socio-
From “socius” = companion, fellow, partner
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