Follow the Data! A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power
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Follow the Data! A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power. / Flensburg, Sofie; Lai, Signe Sophus.
I: Media and Communication, Bind 11, Nr. 2, 2023, s. 319-329.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Follow the Data!
T2 - A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power
AU - Flensburg, Sofie
AU - Lai, Signe Sophus
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Recalling the well‐known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and busi‐ ness 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.
AB - Recalling the well‐known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and busi‐ ness 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.
U2 - 10.17645/mac.v11i2.6464
DO - 10.17645/mac.v11i2.6464
M3 - Journal article
VL - 11
SP - 319
EP - 329
JO - Media and Communication
JF - Media and Communication
SN - 2183-2439
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 341008047