[Air-L] Must reads on "conceptions of power of numbers/big data"

[Daniel Kunzelmann]

Dear all,

Again, eager to start yet another list of literature :)

...the issue at stake this time: ethnographic and/or anthropological 
work on the power of numbers (with a specific focus on big data)!

Anyone wants to share their must-read with me? I'm teaching another 
undergraduate course this upcoming semester in the field of digital 
anthropology. The seminars title: "On the power of numbers: How 
databases and quantification now do (their) work in everyday life (and 
how they have always done so?). The title is a bit cryptic, but the idea 
is that I do want to explore today's phenomenon of big data by 
contrasting it with other forms/ways of quantification(s) (e.g. 
statistics, etc.) that have already had an influence on our lifes for 
much longer time than today's databases, social network sites or 
algorithms.

Or to put it differently: to understand big data I want to look on how 
numbers have been unfolding their power in different times of history.

Using theoretical texts, I want my students to acquire knowledge on the 
key concepts of "big data" "databases", "numbers" and "quantifications". 
How can we think these phenomena today? How can we relate them to power? 
How to they rule and govern our lifes, but also how are they challenged 
and reworked? And, lasts but not least, how can we apply such concepts 
in order to better understand todays digital developments in many 
spheres of (everday) life (from health to sharing economy to body 
conceptions, etc.)?

My idea would be to teach two types of concepts:

a.) "new" Cultural and Social Anthropological concepts and theories that 
explicitly talk about and refer to digital phenomena as in "big data", 
"databases", "algorithms", etc.

b.) "classical" ones that do NOT explicitly talk about these issues, but 
that you would consider highly applicable to understand such phenomena 
(e.g. work on statistics, quantifications, numbers, etc.).

I'd be very happy if you, once again, shared your knowledge and insights 
with me and my students. You may either do this by answering to this 
post or directly typing in your suggestions here:

https://danielderkunzelmann.piratenpad.de/airl-power-of-numbers-big-data

Either way, I will again share the list with the community afterwards :)

kind regards,
Daniel

P.S.: Since this is a reading list for students, It would be awesome if 
you could maybe also name a chapter or pages if you suggest a classic 
work (e.g. what of Foucault would you suggest if you think the concept 
of "governmentality" would help...)

Daniel Kunzelmann,
Ph.D.c / Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich / Institute of Cultural 
Anthropology/European Ethnology
twitter        @der_kunzelmann
blog            http://transformations-blog.com/daniel-kunzelmann/
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