Aggregations of the opaque : Rethinking datafication and e-waste

Hoyng, Rolien Susanne (2019) Aggregations of the opaque : Rethinking datafication and e-waste. First Monday, 24 (4): 9866. ISSN 1396-0466

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This paper points to phenomena that are undeniably intrinsic to the datafied society, yet that themselves belie the dream/nightmare of total control through datafication: electronic waste (e-waste) and its recycling. In recycling industries and reverse logistics, invisibility, opacity, and uncertainty persist despite worldwide networks of surveillance, datafication, and algorithmic calculation. Mobilizing different technologies from RFID to big data, data assemblages enact particular regimes of visibility that cohere three “gazes”: security’s gaze, efficiency’s gaze, and speculation’s gaze. Yet along with these gazes come various forms of sightlessness, which I frame respectively as “blind eye,” “blind spot,” and “blindsight.” Looking at datafication through e-waste teaches us that critique should not start from the presumption of increasingly all-encompassing datafication, but instead analyze the (constitutive) limitations and (productive) excesses at stake in data assemblages.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
First Monday
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Research Output Funding/yes_externally_funded
Subjects:
?? yes - externally fundedcomputer networks and communicationslawhuman-computer interaction ??
ID Code:
188974
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
21 Mar 2023 10:30
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 23:39