The Construction of Data

Jeffrey Alan Johnson
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Jeffrey Alan Johnson: Utah Valley University

Chapter Chapter 3 in Toward Information Justice, 2018, pp 51-81 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter, I show that data is not an objective representation of reality but rather a constructed translation of observations into legible elements designed to support governance (be it by the state or by private actors). Both technical and social structures influence this translation; the technical aspects of database architecture are insufficient by themselves to define this translation regime. Such regimes can contain three characteristic translations: normalizing translations that separate the normal from the deviant, atomizing translations that separate complexity into individual elements, and unifying translations that group diverse characteristics into categories. At the same time, these data systems translate their subjects into “inforgs,” representations that consist of bundled information rather than actually existing subjects. These acts of translation, I conclude, are significant exercises in political power.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-70894-2_3

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