Popular Culture, Digital Archives and the New Social Life of Data

Beer, D. and Burrows, Roger. 2013. Popular Culture, Digital Archives and the New Social Life of Data. Theory, Culture & Society, 30(4), pp. 47-71. ISSN 0263-2764 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

Digital data inundation has far-reaching implications for: disciplinary jurisdiction; the relationship between the academy, commerce and the state; and the very nature of the sociological imagination. Hitherto much of the discussion about these matters has tended to focus on ‘transactional’ data held within large and complex commercial and government databases. This emphasis has been quite understandable – such transactional data does indeed form a crucial part of the informational infrastructures that are now emerging. However, in recent years new sources of data have become available that possess a rather different character. This is data generated in the cultural sphere, not only as a result of routine transactions with various digital media but also as a result of what some would want to view as a shift towards popular cultural forms dominated by processes of what has been termed prosumption. Our analytic focus here is on contemporary prosumption practices, digital technologies, the public life of data and the playful vitality of many of the ‘glossy topics’ that constitute contemporary popular culture.

Item Type:

Article

Identification Number (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276413476542

Departments, Centres and Research Units:

Sociology > Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR)

Dates:

DateEvent
16 July 2013Published

Item ID:

8363

Date Deposited:

09 Jun 2013 12:58

Last Modified:

04 Jul 2017 14:17

Peer Reviewed:

Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.

URI:

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/8363

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