Big data as governmentality in international development: Digital traces, algorithms, and altered visibilities. Issue 1 (1st January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Flyverbom, Mikkel; Madsen, Anders Koed; Rasche, Andreas
• Is Part Of: Information society. Volume 33:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 35
• Page End: 42
• Publication Date: 2017-01-01
• Subjects: Big data -- international development -- governmentality -- knowledge production -- algorithms; Technology -- Social aspects; Information storage and retrieval systems -- Social aspects; Information science -- Periodicals; Sciences de l'information -- Périodiques; 303.483
• DOI: 10.1080/01972243.2016.1248611
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0197-2243

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Statistics have long shaped the field of visibility for the governance of development projects. The introduction of big data has altered the field of visibility. Employing Dean's "analytics of government" framework, we analyze two cases—malaria tracking in Kenya and monitoring of food prices in Indonesia. Our analysis shows that big data introduces a bias toward particular types of visualizations. What problems are being made visible through big data depends to some degree on how the underlying data is visualized and who is captured in the visualizations. It is also influenced by technical factors such as distance between mobile phone towers and the truth claims that gain legitimacy.