Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject

Couldry, Nick; Mejías, Ulises Ali

doi:10.1177/1527476418796632

Cited by 647 publications

(444 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Thus, they interpreted catalog differences as a form of exclusion. This partially complicates the notion that the North-South division doesn't matter in "data colonialism" (Couldry & Mejias, 2019).…”

Section: Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix

Siles

Rojas

Naranjo

et al. 2019

Communication, Culture and Critique

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This article examines the mutual domestication of users and recommendation algorithms on Netflix. Based on 25 interviews with users and an inductive analysis of their practices and profiles on the platform, we discuss five dynamics through which this mutual domestication occurs: personalization, or the ways in which individualized relationships between users and the platform are built; how algorithmic recommendations are integrated into a matrix of cultural codes; the rituals through which they are incorporated into spatial and temporal processes in daily life; the resistance to various aspects of Netflix as a form to enact agency; and the conversion or transformation of the private consumption of the platform into a public issue. The conclusion elaborates on the theoretical and analytical implications of this approach, to rethink the relationship between algorithms and culture.

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Section: Resistancementioning

confidence: 99%

The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix

Siles

Rojas

Naranjo

et al. 2019

Communication, Culture and Critique

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such phenomena are popularly referred to "digital colonialism." More recently, the term "data colonialism" (Thatcher, O'Sullivan, & Mahmoudi, 2016; see also Couldry & Mejias, 2019) has received attention, emphasizing data as a form of capitalist expropriation although some of these arguments gloss over the structural asymmetries between the global north and south which are at the heart of the notion of technocolonialism.…”

Section: Why Colonialism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Technocolonialism: Digital Innovation and Data Practices in the Humanitarian Response to Refugee Crises

Madianou

2019

Social Media + Society

160

136

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Digital innovation and data practices are increasingly central to the humanitarian response to recent refugee and migration crises. In this article, I introduce the concept of technocolonialism to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial relationships of dependency. Technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that data and digital innovation play in entrenching power asymmetries between refugees and aid agencies and ultimately inequalities in the global context. This occurs through a number of interconnected processes: by extracting value from refugee data and innovation practices for the benefit of various stakeholders; by materializing discrimination associated with colonial legacies; by contributing to the production of social orders that entrench the “coloniality of power”; and by justifying some of these practices under the context of “emergencies.” By reproducing the power asymmetries of humanitarianism, data and innovation practices become constitutive of humanitarian crises themselves.

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“…Ещё более предметно и жёстко проблематика глобального лидерства, доминирования и влияния применительно к платформам и цифровым технологиям, ставится в нео-и постмарксистских исследованиях цифрового (data colonialism) или, иначе, информационного колониализма (Jin 2015;Thatcher et al 2016;Jin 2017;Cohen 2018;Couldry, Mejias 2018;Kwet 2019).…”

Section: платформы как фактор экономического лидерстваunclassified

The Impact of Digital Technologies on Leadership in Global Processes: from Platforms to Markets?

Данилин

2020

Vestnik MGIMO-universiteta

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Discussions on the impact of digital technologies on national and global processes are rising. Among important issues is the role of large Internet platforms (Facebook, Google, Alibaba, etc.) - key players of the digital markets and in the digital innovations – in producing global leadership / dominance. The article argues, that on the economy side existing USA-China duopoly on the platform markets creates asymmetric advantages for both nations resulting (in future) in unprecedented influence on global processes (up to “digital colonialism”). It is doubtful that potential competitors from third nations may ever destroy this duopoly. Also, the information functions of the platforms are reviewed as resource for global leadership. Noting the evolution of assessments (from techno-optimistic views of platforms as engines of democracy to alarmist views of their role as a “backdoor” for the opponents and adversaries) we accent platform`s growing information impact on the global processes (digital diplomacy, etc.). However, here the USA-PRC duopoly is also actual. Dilemma of alternative solutions to boost the influence of third nations in the new digital, platform economy still may be resolved. Since data is the key resource for the digital markets and platforms, formation of data regulatory regimes appears to be an asymmetric solution. The experience of the EU with its GDPR and other efforts to form new data/digital regimes may serve as a model. Exploiting its` large data market as a competitive factor, the EU may neutralize part of the advantages of stronger actors and orient global platforms towards a more acceptable strategy. However, regulatory practices should be complemented by the development of digital technologies, as well as regional- or national-level platforms. A serious challenge also lies in achieving needed market scale (in order to influence global platforms) and – in the future – in competition of jurisdictions.

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Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data’s Relation to the Contemporary Subject

Cited by 647 publications

References 31 publications

The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix

The Mutual Domestication of Users and Algorithmic Recommendations on Netflix

Technocolonialism: Digital Innovation and Data Practices in the Humanitarian Response to Refugee Crises

The Impact of Digital Technologies on Leadership in Global Processes: from Platforms to Markets?

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