Compromised Data: From Social Media to Big Data

by Axel Bruns, Greg Elmer (Editor), Ganaele Langlois (Editor)

There has been a data rush in the past decade brought about by online communication and, in particular, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, among others), which promises a new age of digital enlightenment. But social data is compromised: it is being seized by specific economic interests, it leads to a fundamental shift in the relationship between research and the public good, and it fosters new forms of control and surveillance.

Compromised Data: From Social Media to Big Data explores how we perform critical research within a compromised social data framework. The expert, international lineup of contributors explores the limits and challenges of social data research in order to invent and develop new modes of doing public research. At its core, this collection argues that we are witnessing a fundamental reshaping of the social through social data mining.

Genres: Technology, Social Media, Nonfiction

296 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2015

About the author

Axel Bruns is Associate Professor, ARC Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology.