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Follow the Data! A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power
[journal article]
Abstract
Recalling the well-known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and business models of legacy media, this article argues that studies of digital political economies can benefit instead from following the data. Combining perspectives from critical data st... view more
Recalling the well-known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and business models of legacy media, this article argues that studies of digital political economies can benefit instead from following the data. Combining perspectives from critical data studies and infrastructure research, we first discuss how direct money flows can be difficult to trace in digital ecosystems, creating a need for alternative analytical approaches for studying and scrutinising contemporary power configurations in digital societies. As a theoretical backdrop, we elaborate on the concept of infrastructural power and apply it in a walkthrough of critical data infrastructures. To illustrate the efficacy of this strategy, we provide perspectives and examples from the political economies of internet infrastructures in Northern Europe and discuss how control over data is translated into economic profit and societal power. In doing so, we argue that increased attention to data infrastructures is needed to advance both critical data and infrastructure studies, improve digital market monitoring, and ground future regulation and policy.... view less
Keywords
political economy; infrastructure; Internet; Northern Europe; data organization; data processing
Classification
Technology Assessment
Sociology of Science, Sociology of Technology, Research on Science and Technology
Free Keywords
critical data studies; data economy; infrastructural power; internet infrastructures
Document language
English
Publication Year
2023
Page/Pages
p. 319-329
Journal
Media and Communication, 11 (2023) 2
Issue topic
A Datafied Society: Data Power, Infrastructures, and Regulations
ISSN
2183-2439
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed