Data is too big to be left to the data analysts. Now Bigger and Better! brings together researchers whose work is deeply informed by the conceptual frameworks of anthropology―frameworks that are comparative as well as field-based. From kinship to gifts, everything old becomes rich with new insight when the anthropological archive washes over “big data.” Bringing together anthropology’s classic debates and contemporary interventions, the book counters the future-oriented speculation so characteristic of discussions regarding big data. Drawing on the long-standing experience in industry contexts, the contributors also provide analytical provocations that can help reframe some of the most important shifts in technology and society in the first half of the twenty-first century.
This slender, evocative volume collects several fascinating essays that challenge the way we conceive of 'data' and 'big data', pressing the reader to think rather differently about data itself and how we, society, and our institutions relate to it. Or to 'the datas', as Maurer puts it in his essay "Principles of Descent and Alliance for Big Data".
Short anthropological articles examining the ideas and hype around big data.Lots of problematizing, apying classic anthropological theories and approaches, and problematizing of applying classic anthropological theories and approaches. Some interesting ideas and perspectives, and lots of questions, not many insights that made excited or question how I use data at work.
This is an excellent collection of articles on the big data debate written by anthropologists. I highly recommend the book. My full review is in Consumption, Markets and Culture