Data Lives: How Data Are Made and Shape Our World

Description

Rob Kitchin explores how data-driven technologies have become essential to society, government and the economy by blending scholarly analysis, biography and fiction, he demonstrates how data influence our daily lives. The word 'data' has entered everyday conversation, but do we really understand what it means? How can we begin to grasp the scope and scale of our new data-rich world, and can we truly comprehend what is at stake? In Data Lives, renowned social scientist Rob Kitchin explores the intricacies of data creation and charts how data-driven technologies have become essential to how society, government and the economy work. Creatively blending scholarly analysis, biography and fiction, he demonstrates how data are shaped by social and political forces, and the extent to which they influence our daily lives. He reveals our data world to be one of potential danger, but also of hope.

Rob Kitchin is a Professor in the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, Ireland. He is author/editor of a number of books about technology and society and is a recipient of the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal for the Social Sciences.

"A powerful and important account of the role data plays in shaping everyday life from a world-leading researcher with decades of experience in the field." James Ash, Newcastle University "Rob Kitchin is engaged in making our datafied world more liveable. He asks not just how our digital selves are constructed, managed and marketed by others, but how we might connect to that process and influence it." Linnet Taylor, Tilburg University "Written in a very accessible and engaging format, 'Data lives' is a brilliant tour de force of how data shapes our everyday lives and is shaped by the ways we produce it. This is going to be a key reference for years to come." Ayona Datta, Institution: University College London "We all use data to tell stories. In this tremendous book, Rob Kitchin tells stories too, prompting us to reimagine how data lives and how we live with it." Paul Dourish, University of California, Irvine "Rob Kitchin's appealing and innovative use of data stories propels the reader right into complex discussions about data creation and use - a thought-provoking and highly enjoyable read." Sandra Collins, National Library of Ireland. "An anthropologist and a computer scientist walk into a cafe... Using diverse narrative styles, this book provides an engaging and important account of the choices and contexts that shape the data that increasingly impact our lives." Teresa Scassa, University of Ottawa "A staggering volume that knowingly and skillfully upends established visions of our data lives. Surprising, unpredictable and inspiring. By breaking the patterns of commentary and mixing-up the style of academic writing this will be a landmark and transformative text from one of the foremost thinkers in the field." David Beer, University of York "Data Lives is the ultimate resource for all of us who have wondered what happens to our data after they enter the ether beyond our digital devices, where we only briefly encounter data along what are revealed to be complex and often surprising trajectories." Agnieszka Leszczynski, Western University