Hauntology

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Blackman, Lisa. 2021. Hauntology. In: , ed. Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data. Cambridge Massachussets: The MIT Press, pp. 279-288. ISBN 9780262539883 [Book Section]

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Official URL: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/uncertain-archives

Abstract or Description

What does it mean to engage with displaced and submerged narratives, actors, agents and entities within the context of data and digital archives? This is the challenge that this chapter raises for analyses that seek to go beyond big data analytics and address the social and cultural lives and after-lives of data. The chapter will focus on the affordances and potential of post-publication-peer-review and why the data made possible by the digital disruption of the publishing industry is important for ghost-hunting and archival practices . The following example raises questions about archiving practices and what is rendered visible and invisible, material and immaterial, true or false within particular regimes of visibility and truth telling. It introduces the concept of historiality borrowed from the science studies scholar and philosopher Hans-Jorg Rheinberger. Historiality as a concept is developed within the context of data and the digital archive, returning software media transactions and data analytics to their ghostly dimensions.

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