Data Publics: An Empirical and Comparative Approach to Datafication

This article presents an empirical and comparative framework for understanding datafication through the lens of data publics. We define data publics as social groups that engage, or might be expected to engage, with data generated about, by, or for them. Through ethnographic case studies conducted in various contexts, including open data, health data, and data activism, this article explores how data initiatives are developed in relation to imagined publics, which ultimately confront actual publics. This study introduces an analytical framework that integrates diverse tensions between conceptions of the public (passive versus agentive, ideal versus empirical, cognitive versus affective) to facilitate a nuanced analysis of data publics. The article emphasizes the complexity inherent in these publics and the ways developers of data initiatives relate to them, and highlights the necessity of examining underlying power dynamics to gain a more in-depth understanding of publics’ agency within the broader landscape of datafication.