Big Data as a Political Terrain: Deconstructing and Approaching Critically Datafication

Abstract

Big Data are not a neutral field of practice and knowledge, in particular when it comes to politics. Political actors, economic actors and media actors understand in different ways the concept of big data. More precisely, when political parties and social movements engage with Big Data, they often evoke specific, and contrasting, understanding of what datafication processes means in and for politics. This panel invites papers that deconstruct and approach critically processes of datafication in contemporary politics by looking at the intersections between different political cultures and (big) data cultures, focusing on the discourses and imaginaries that political actors develop around Big Data, and investigating the media practices related to the construction, manipulation and subversion of Big Data within the political realm.