Abstract
‘Big data’ offer novel opportunities for civic engagement and foster the emergence of data activism, a form of technopolitics from the ground-up that assumes people’s active engagement with data for empowerment. Proactive data activism, in particular, sees citizens taking advantage of the possibilities offered by data for advocacy and social change. This chapter combines social movement studies and media studies to analyze the emergence of proactive data activism in the Latin American continent. Analyzing the case of InfoAmazonia—a project blending citizen participation and data analysis to generate news about the endangered Amazon region—this chapter adds to our understanding of technopolitics as a way to reinterpret reality, empower people, facilitate collective action, and challenge the establish social norms embedded in our understanding of technology and social change. Furthermore, it contributes to the understanding of how data can restructure social reality, and in particular civil society action.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abdul Rahim, R., Waldburger, D., & Siegenthaler Muinde, G. (Eds.). (2005). Access, empowerment & governance creating a world of equal opportunities with ICT. Kuala Lumpur: Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://gkpfoundation.org/media/images/reports/133-Access_Empowerment_Governance_5.pdf.
Blejman, M. (2013). The unstoppable ascent of data journalism in Latin America. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.icfj.org/blogs/unstoppable-ascent-data-journalism-latin-america.
Blejman, M. (2014, July 21). Five data journalism projects win funding from Latin American startup accelerator HacksLabs. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.icfj.org/blogs/five-data-journalism-projects-win-funding-latin-american-startup-accelerator-hackslabs.
Cardoso, V. (2015). Ciclos Anuais dos Povos Indígenas no Rio Tiquié. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z11qly8DW48.
Castells, M. (2009). Communication power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Coleman, G. E. (2013). Coding freedom: The ethics and aesthetics of hacking. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Cukier, K., & Mayer-Schoenberger, V. (2013). The rise of big data: How it’s changing the way we think about the world. Foreign Affairs, 92(3), 28–40.
della Porta, D., & Diani, M. (2006). Social movements. An introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Escuela de Datos. (2016). La comunidad. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from es.schoolofdata.org/acerca-de/la-comunidad/.
Faleiros, G. (2012, June 18). InfoAmazonia: A visual and graphic exploration of the world’s largest rainforest. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.icfj.org/blogs/infoamazonia-visual-and-graphic-exploration-world%E2%80%99s-largest-rainforest.
Faleiros, G. (2013, February 4). How InfoAmazonia is taking data storytelling to the next level. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from https://ijnet.org/en/blog/how-infoamazonia-taking-data-storytelling-next-level.
Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In Social text (pp. 56–80). Duke University Press.
Gagliardone, I. (2014). “A country in order”: Technopolitics, nation building, and the development of ICT in Ethiopia. Information Technologies & International Development, 10(1), 3–19.
Gitelman, L. (Ed.). (2013). Raw data is an Oxymoron. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: The MIT Press.
Gutierrez, M. (2017). Bits and atoms: Proactive data activism and social change from a critical theory perspective. San Sebastian: University of Deusto.
Habermas, J. (1973). Theory and practice. Cambridge: Beacon Press.
Hackett, B., & Carroll, B. (2006). Remaking media—The struggle to democratize public communication (Communication and society). New York and London: Routledge.
Hughes, J. J. (2006). Human enhancement and the emergent technopolitics of the 21st century. In W. S. Bainbridge & M. C. Roco (Eds.), Managing nano-bio-info-cogno innovations: Converging technologies in society (pp. 285–307). Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://genetic-enhancement-pm.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/2/149297/enhancement_technopolitics.pdf.
InfoAmazonia. (2015). The annual cycles. Retrieved December 7, 2016, from https://ciclostiquie.socioambiental.org/en/index.html#cycles.
Innis, H. A. (1986). Empire & communications. Press Porcepic.
Kurban, C., Peña-Lopez, I., & Haberer, M. (2016). What is technopolitics? A conceptual scheme for understanding politics in the digital age. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Internet, Law & Politics. Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, 7–8 July, 2016 (pp. 499–519). Barcelona: UOC-Huygens Editorial. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://ictlogy.net/presentations/20160707_can_kurban_ismael_pena-lopez_maria_haberer_-_what_is_technopolitics_conceptual_scheme.pdf.
Latinobarómetro. (2015). La Confianza en América Latina 1995 –2015. Santiago de Chile: Banco de datos en línea. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.latinobarometro.org/LATDocs/F00005085-INFORME_LB_LA_CONFIANZA_1995_2015.pdf.
Levy, S. (1968). Hackers: Heroes of the computer revolution. New York: Dell Publishing.
Milan, S. (forthcoming). Data activism as the new frontier of media activism. In G. Yang & V. Pickard (Eds.), Media Activism. London and New York: Routledge.
Milan, S., & Gutierrez, M. (2015). Citizens´ media meets Big Data: The emergence of data activism. Mediaciones, 14. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://biblioteca.uniminuto.edu/ojs/index.php/med/article/view/1086/1027.
Milan, S., & van der Velden, L. (2016). The alternative epistemologies of data activism. Digital Culture & Society, (Special Issue on The Politics of Big Data), 11.
Morlan. (2016). Quiénes somos. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.morlan.mx/.
Pybus, J., Cote, M., & Blanke, T. (2015). Hacking the social life of big data. Big Data & Society, 1(10), 10.
Rede InfoAmazonia. (2016). Environmental sensors. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from http://rede.infoamazonia.org/.
Reuters Institute. (2016). Digital News Report 2016—Spain. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2016/spain-2016/.
Rodriguez, C. (2001). Fissures in the mediascape—An international study of citizen´s media. Cresskill, New Jersey: Hampton Press Inc.
Rodriguez, C. (2009). De medios alternativos a medios ciudadanos: Trayectoria teórica de un término. SAGE Publications, 21. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from https://aprendeenlinea.udea.edu.co/revistas/index.php/folios/article/view/6416/5898.
Sampedro, V. (2014). El cuarto poder en red. Barcelona: Icaria.
Shepherd, (Andrew), Mitchell, T., Lewis, K., Lenhardt, A., Jones, L., Scott, L., & Muir-Wood, R. (2013). The geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030. London: Overseas Development Institute. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://www.droughtmanagement.info/literature/ODI_the_geography_of_poverty_disasters_climate_extremes_2013.pdf.
Shubert, W. (2014, January 29). FEATURE: Launch of geojournalism site for Indonesia—“Ekuatorial.” Retrieved December 12, 2016, from http://cdkn.org/2014/01/launch-of-new-geojournalism-platform-ekuatorial-for-indonesia/?loclang=en_gb.
Striphas, T. (2015). Algorithmic culture. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 18(4–5), 395–412.
Winner, L. (1980). Do artifacts have politics? Daedalus, 109(1), 121–136.
Winner, L. (1986). The whale and the reactor: A search for limits in an age of high technology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved December 12, 2016, from https://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/WhaleAndReactor.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Milan, S., Gutierrez, M. (2018). Technopolitics in the Age of Big Data. In: Caballero, F., Gravante, T. (eds) Networks, Movements and Technopolitics in Latin America. Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research - A Palgrave and IAMCR Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65560-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65560-4_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-65559-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-65560-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)