Day Three: Big Data Discourse

SDS 237: Data Ethnography

Lindsay Poirier
Statistical & Data Sciences, Smith College

Fall 2023

Data is the new ________. (Fill with a term that represents dominant beliefs about data.)

Turn to a neighbor and discuss:

  • What assumptions are built into this metaphor?
  • What are the some social consequences of associating data with this idea?

What did we learn about epistemology on Tuesday? How is this relevant to big data?

Feminist Epistemologies

  • All knowledge is embodied
    • Contrast with disembodied knowledge - i.e. not tied to a specific body
  • Bodies are situated in certain social positions and have a finite point of view (Haraway 1991)
    • Critique of the “unmarked body,” the “God trick,” or the “view from nowhere”
  • Knowledge is tied to particular standpoints
    • Our experiences, what we’ve read, our education, our social positions, and what our bodies enable us to do, see, hear, taste, touch, and smell
    • Factors are innumerable and unique to every person

marsroverdriver, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Discourse

  • How we communicate or converse about topics, people, and things
  • Dominant discourse characterizes the discourses that emerge as predominant throughout society
    • Shapes our values, identities, behaviors, and interactions with each other
    • Also shapes, disseminates, and is prodded by our ideologies, or worldviews
  • Cultural hegemony describes when our ideologies reflect those with power over us

What social institutions shape predominant ways we talk about things?

What are some examples of dominant discourse?

Technology Discourse

  • Technocratic: Technology will fix social problems.
    • Computers will save the world!
    • Other examples?
  • Dystopian: Technology is frightening or debilitating.
    • Robots will take over all jobs.
    • Other examples?
  • Determinist: Technology determines how society operates.
    • Mobile phones are making us anti-social.
      • Other examples?

Discourse Analysis in Nine Steps

  1. Establish the context
  2. Consider the medium
  3. Discern the intended audience
  4. Assess assumptions
  5. Identify cultural cues and references
  6. Evaluate rhetorical strategies and methods of delivery
  7. Consider the social structures the discourse operates within
  8. Assess how the discourse disseminates
  9. Reflect on what is not said or who is not included

Reading Discussion

What connotations are wrapped into the metaphors often used to characterize data? Why do the metaphors we use to describe data matter?

  • Assign someone to take notes and someone else to facilitate.
  • To start, everyone will take a turn to offer their brief initial perspective.
  • Open for broader discussion. The facilitator should keep time and ensure the conversation stays on topic.
  • Prepare two bullet points that summarize the key takeaways from your discussion to report out.

Activity

  • Read article linked under today’s announcements
  • Highlight statements that indicate Anderson’s worldview as you read
  • Referencing the Discourse Analysis in 9 Steps, discuss components of Anderson’s discourse in small groups. Be sure to discuss Steps 4, 5, and 6 particularly.