 Everything counts in large amounts: a critical realist case study on data-based productionAleksi Aaltonen and
Niccolo Tempini
Chapter 17 in Formulating Research Methods for Information Systems, 2015, pp 325-357 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Contemporary digital ecosystems produce vast amounts of data every day. The data are often no more than microscopic log entries generated by the elements of an information infrastructure or system. Although such records may represent a variety of things outside the system, their powers go beyond the capacity to carry semantic content. In this article, we harness critical realism to explain how such data come to matter in specific business operations. We analyse the production of an advertising audience from data tokens extracted from a telecommunications network. The research is based on an intensive case study of a mobile network operator that tries to turn its subscribers into an advertising audience. We identify three mechanisms that shape data-based production and three properties that characterize the underlying pool of data. The findings advance the understanding of many organizational settings that are centred on data processing. Keywords: audience; critical realism; data-driven; information actualization; measurement; mechanism (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-50988-8_9 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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