143 EIGHT ‘Big data’ and policy learning Patrick Dunleavy In early February 2014, during an industrial dispute with management about extending the London Tube’s hours of service, many of the system’s train drivers went on strike. Millions of passengers had to make other arrangements. Many switched their journey patterns to avoid their normal lines and stations, which were strike-hit, and to use those routes still running a service. Three economists downloaded all the data for the periods before and after the strike period from London’s pre-pay electronic
such data, commonly called ‘big data’, which is generally defined as voluminous datasets that cannot be ‘perceived, acquired, managed, and processed by traditional information technology and software/hardware tools within a tolerable time’ (Chen et al, 2014, p. 173). Big data is increasingly used by interested stakeholders to illustrate trends and patterns that confirm and/or challenge wider assumptions (Laney, 2001 ; Khoury & Ioannidis, 2014 ; Wu, Zhu, Wu & Ding, 2014 ; Liu, Li, Li & Wu, 2016 ; Williams et al, 2017 ; Song, Song & Lee, 2018 ; Lee & Holt, 2020
initiatives aimed at gender mainstreaming. If this lynchpin of institutional monitoring and evaluation schemes is flawed, what does it mean for efforts to highlight emerging issues in gender and security? This chapter seeks to present but also critique the data we have on gender equality and gendered experiences of security. This begins with some background, covering the coinciding rise of ‘big data’ (as a technology and an ethos) and normative frameworks in academic and policy circles that incentivize the collection and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data. From
211 ELEVEN Capturing the bigger picture with big data: opportunities for fatherhood researchers Esther Dermott Introduction This volume contr ibutes both to a better understanding of contemporary fathers and fatherhood, and of how to conduct social research. This chapter does so by considering the challenges and value of engaging with ‘big data’ for fatherhood researchers. It argues that the arrival of new forms of data presents genuinely exciting possibilities for tackling important questions that have been either inadequately addressed, or sidelined, in
65 5 Science, evidence and police accountability in the age of big data This chapter explores the impact that the increasing use of data and science have on policing in terms of the organisation and delivery of police responses to crime and crime prevention. The use of scientific evidence to develop improved policing services offers many advantages, especially in a period where demands on the public police are transformed by technological change, and resources available to meet new challenges have reduced in absolute terms. The use of science to promote
protection chemicals, and fertilizers. As we will see, the co-production known as precision agriculture and the values and social realities it propagates is radically re-ordering the socio-spatial relations of commodity agriculture. On-farm work practices are changing as knowledge production is increasingly devolved to decision support platforms, defining a further round of commodification and the treadmill of competitive innovation. Digitalisation, Big Data, and digital support platforms Precision agriculture emerged in the mid-1980s with the development of a
113 7 Transparency in an age of big data We are now in the middle of a second wave of transparency policy. The first wave saw most countries around the world adopt freedom of information (FOI) legislation between 1960 and 2000. This has now become an expected feature and marker of democratic regimes, with over 75 countries now having laws covering general public access to government documents and information excluding personal information (normally referred as FOI) and individual access to personal records whether held by government or non
thereafter, the AWA (2006) included specifications for electronic monitoring: 1) it was required as a condition of release if a person was convicted of certain sex crimes or failed to register and 2) it provided states with an opportunity to get federal money if they mandated persons convicted of certain sex crimes to be monitored electronically (Calkins et al, 2014 ). Once federal monies became available, EM in relation to sex offender management quickly spread. Between the rise of SORN and the rise of EM, big data to track and monitor persons convicted of sex crimes was
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As the US contends with issues of populism and de-democratization, this timely study considers the impacts of digital technologies on the country’s politics and society.
Timcke provides a Marxist analysis of the rise of digital media, social networks and technology giants like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. He looks at the impact of these new platforms and technologies on their users who have made them among the most valuable firms in the world.
Offering bold new thinking across data politics and digital and economic sociology, this is a powerful demonstration of how algorithms have come to shape everyday life and political legitimacy in the US and beyond.
Exploring the digital frontiers of feminist international relations, this book investigates how gender can be mainstreamed into discourse about technology and security.
With a focus on big data, communications technology, social media, cryptocurrency and decentralized finance, the book explores the ways in which technology presents sites for gender-based violence. Crucially, it examines potential avenues for resistance at these sites, especially regarding the actions of major tech companies, surveillance by repressive governments and attempts to use the Global South as a laboratory for new interventions.
The book draws valuable insights which will be essential to researchers in International Relations, Security Studies and Feminist Security Studies.
