The Sage Handbook of Data and Society

The Sage Handbook of Data and Society provides a comprehensive exploration of the impact of data on society. Addressing urgent research questions in this rapidly evolving field and offering a balanced mix of introductory insights and advanced analyses, this resource offers a nuanced understanding of critical data studies and their relevance to contemporary society. Through detailed examinations of specific issues, cases, concepts, and methodologies, the handbook fosters a critical proximity to the entanglement of social dynamics and their data doubles.

Organized into seven sections, the handbook covers a diverse range of topics, including data infrastructures, digital labor, power dynamics, environmental challenges, bodily experiences, scientific methodologies, and disciplinary intersections. Each section offers a broad examination of critical issues, highlighting interdisciplinary scholarship and presenting fresh perspectives on the intricate relationship between data and societal structures.

Featuring contributions from scholars representing various disciplines and global perspectives, The Sage Handbook of Data and Society is an invaluable resource for scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners. By encouraging critical engagement with the profound impacts of datafication, this handbook equips readers with the necessary tools to navigate the complexities of the digital age and comprehend its implications for contemporary society.

Section 1: Infrastructures of Data

Section 2: Labor of Data

Section 3: Power and Struggles of Data

Section 4: Data and Crises of Nature

Section 5: Data and Bodies

Section 6: The Sciences of Data

Section 7: Disciplines of Data

Tommaso Venturini is Associate Professor at the Medialab of the University of Geneva, researcher at the CNRS Centre for Internet & Society, and founder of the Public Data Lab. He has been ＂advanced research fellow＂ at INRIA, ＂digital methods lecturer＂ at King′s College London, and ＂research coordinator＂ of the médialab of Sciences Po Paris. His work lies at the intersection of media studies and science and technology studies. His research focuses on digital methods, Internet subcultures, the online attention economy, and controversy mapping.

Amelia Acker is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the School of Information, where she leads the Critical Data Studies Lab. Her research on data archives and preservation has been funded by the US National Science Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, and the ACM History and Archiving Fellowship. Acker’s research agenda focuses on cultures of mobile computing, emerging digital preservation models, data literacy, personal information management, and metadata standards for data access between private and public archives.

Jean-Christophe Plantin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research and teaching focus on the infrastructural power of tech giants, the platformization of cybersecurity, gaming, and library data, and the invisible labor of cleaning data infrastructure. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan. He received a PhD in Communication and Information Studies from Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France.

Tone Walford is an Associate Professor of Digital Anthropology at University College London. Their research explores the effects of the exponential growth of digital data on social and cultural imaginaries and practices, with an ethnographic focus on emergent forms of data-driven environmental politics and scientific subjectivities in Brazil. They previously held post-doctoral positions at the Open University, Copenhagen University, and University of Warwick.