[Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 135, Issue 4

[Charles Steinfield]

Kevin,
While I am sure this is not the earliest reference to this idea, it was certainly a core argument in Shoshanna Zuboff’s 1988 book  “In the Age of the Smart Machine.”  It’s been a long time since I looked at the book, but as I recall, she talks at length about the role of information byproducts generated computer-mediated work to better manage organizations, not always in positive ways from the perspective of workers. To me, this is fundamentally an argument about “digital trace data."  

best,
Chip

Charles Steinfield
Department of Media and Information
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48840 USA
+1 517 432 8651
steinfie at msu.edu



On Oct 5, 2015, at 6:00 PM, air-l-request at listserv.aoir.org wrote:


> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org <mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org>] On Behalf Of Kevin G Crowston
> Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 11:17 AM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org <mailto:air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data?
> 
> An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I?m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there?s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data? in this context more specifically.?
> 
> For example, there?s a 2008 handbook article:
> 
> Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116?141.
> 
> But I suspect there are even earlier sources.
> 
> Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies
> 
> Syracuse University
> 348 Hinds Hall
> Syracuse, New York 13244
> t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston at syr.edu <mailto:crowston at syr.edu>  
> 
> crowston.syr.edu <http://crowston.syr.edu/>