INVISIBLE LABOR FOR DATA: INSTITUTIONS, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND VIRTUAL SPACE

Americans are accustomed to a wide range of data collection in their lives: census, polls, surveys, user registrations, and disclosure forms. When logging onto the Internet, users’ actions are being tracked everywhere: clicking, typing, tapping, swiping, searching, and placing orders. All of this data is stored to create data-driven profiles of each user. Social network sites, furthermore, set the voluntarily sharing of personal data as the default mode of engagement. But people’s time and energy devoted to creating this massive amount of data, on paper and online, are taken for granted. Few people would consider their time and energy spent on data production as labor. Even if some people do acknowledge their labor for data, they believe it is accessory to the activities at hand. In the face of pervasive data collection and the rising time spent on screens, why do people keep ignoring their labor for data? How has labor for data been become invisible, as something that is disregarded by many users? What does invisible labor for data imply for everyday cultural practices in the United States? Invisible Labor for Data addresses these questions. I argue that three intertwined forces contribute to framing data production as being void of labor: data production institutions throughout history, the Internet’s technological infrastructure (especially with the implementation of algorithms), and the multiplication of virtual spaces. There is a common tendency in the framework of human interactions with computers to deprive data and bodies of their materiality. My Introduction and Chapter 1 offer theoretical interventions by reinstating embodied materiality and redefining labor for data as an ongoing process. The middle Chapters present case studies explaining how labor for data is pushed to the margin of the narratives about data production. I focus on a nationwide debate in the 1960s on whether the U.S. should build a databank, contemporary Big Data practices in the data broker and the Internet industries, and the group of people who are hired to produce data for other people’s avatars in the virtual games. I conclude with a discussion on how the new development of crowdsourcing projects may usher in the new chapter in exploiting invisible and discounted labor for data

A Neoliberalisation of Social Data? Big Data and the Future of Official Statistics

Many of the existing commentaries on enormous, interconnected, dynamic datasets, or Big Data, as they have become commonly known, have highlighted their technical qualities. It has for example been argued that what separates Big Data from previous forms of data are the so called 3Vs; Volume, Variety and Velocity. In contrast, based on a historical, conceptual and empirical analysis, I suggest that what is novel about Big Data is not just its technical composition, but more importantly the changing jurisdictions between the producers of data that its emergence entails. Its technical composition, I argue, is predicated upon how its production is organised. I suggest that historically, statistics have emerged out of a co-constitutive interaction between methodological and technological developments and changes in the political and administrative world (Desrosières 1998). Further to this, I suggest that the production of data on which statistics have relied has often been monopolised by dominant institutions. By situating Big Data in the context of political economy, I argue that its emergence reflects broader processes of neoliberalisation that have swept over western polities in the past few decades, notably in the sense that it primarily accumulates in the private, rather than the public sector. By exploring responses to Big Data within National Statistical Institutes, I suggest that it signals not just an increasing privatisation of data production and related infrastructures, but also an increasing pressure to adopt neoliberal rationalities and values in the public sector. I suggest that at Statistics Finland, where my fieldwork was based, these processes are potentially undermining the social welfarist principles upon which the production of official statistics has for long been based. I argue that the social organisation of Big Data must be rethought based on Social Democratic principles and political imaginations and that the question about the future role of the NSI must form a central component of such considerations

Cultural Heritage in a Changing World

Cultural Heritage; Cultural Economics; Cultural Studies; Archaeology; Information Storage and Retrieval; Information Systems Applications (incl. Internet

Assuming Data Integrity and Empirical Evidence to The Contrary

Background: Not all respondents to surveys apply their minds or understand the posed questions, and as such provide answers which lack coherence, and this threatens the integrity of the research. Casual inspection and limited research of the 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), included in the dataset of the World Values Survey (WVS), suggested that random responses may be common. Objective: To specify the percentage of cases in the BRI-10 which include incoherent or contradictory responses and to test the extent to which the removal of these cases will improve the quality of the dataset. Method: The WVS data on the BFI-10, measuring the Big Five Personality (B5P), in South Africa (N=3 531), was used. Incoherent or contradictory responses were removed. Then the cases from the cleaned-up dataset were analysed for their theoretical validity. Results: Only 1 612 (45.7%) cases were identified as not including incoherent or contradictory responses. The cleaned-up data did not mirror the B5P- structure, as was envisaged. The test for common method bias was negative. Conclusion: In most cases the responses were incoherent. Cleaning up the data did not improve the psychometric properties of the BFI-10. This raises concerns about the quality of the WVS data, the BFI-10, and the universality of B5P-theory. Given these results, it would be unwise to use the BFI-10 in South Africa. Researchers are alerted to do a proper assessment of the psychometric properties of instruments before they use it, particularly in a cross-cultural setting

Leading Towards Voice and Innovation: The Role of Psychological Contract

Background: Empirical evidence generally suggests that psychological contract breach (PCB) leads to negative outcomes. However, some literature argues that, occasionally, PCB leads to positive outcomes. Aim: To empirically determine when these positive outcomes occur, focusing on the role of psychological contract (PC) and leadership style (LS), and outcomes such as employ voice (EV) and innovative work behaviour (IWB). Method: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted, using reputable questionnaires on PC, PCB, EV, IWB, and leadership styles. Correlation analyses were used to test direct links within the model, while regression analyses were used to test for the moderation effects. Results: Data with acceptable psychometric properties were collected from 11 organisations (N=620). The results revealed that PCB does not lead to substantial changes in IWB. PCB correlated positively with prohibitive EV, but did not influence promotive EV, which was a significant driver of IWB. Leadership styles were weak predictors of EV and IWB, and LS only partially moderated the PCB-EV relationship. Conclusion: PCB did not lead to positive outcomes. Neither did LS influencing the relationships between PCB and EV or IWB. Further, LS only partially influenced the relationships between variables, and not in a manner which positively influence IWB

Data Loam: Sometimes Hard, Usually Soft. The Future of Knowledge Systems

Data Loam: Sometimes Hard, Usually Soft. The Future of Knowledge Systems is a landmark work. It details the wild proliferation of data and its profound methodological implications for arts and humanities, now enlivened by their ‘sticky cohesions’ with the knowledge systems of science, technology, engineering and maths. Vibrant and disruptive both as segment and infinite plane, the loam names a dynamic multiversal discourse, closer to a living, shape-shifting mesh. Its connections are self-organising complexities requiring the practical activities of distributed intelligences. We reclaim this as nothing less than art

Between Peace and Conflict in the East and the West

This open access book features various studies on democratization, transformation, socio-economic development, and security issues in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) geographical region and beyond. Written by experts and scholars working in the field of human dimension, security, transformation and development in Europe and Asia, particularly in post-soviet and communist countries, it examines the connectivity that the OSCE provides between the East and the West. The 2021 edition of this Compilation Series of the OSCE Academy presents studies on peace and conflict as well as political regime development in various member states of the OSCE as well as their economic, security and human rights performance and the challenges countries and society face currently. The OSCE is working in promoting Human Rights and Democratization under the notion of Human Dimension of ODIHR and is enhancing securitization and development policies in Eurasia, Europe, Central Asia and North America since 1991. 2021 marks the 30th anniversary on the tremendous efforts in promoting democracy, security and development. This compilation reviews some of these efforts in light of this anniversary, the achievements and shortcomings

Reorganizing Biomedical Research : Biobanks as Conditions of Possibility for Personalized Medicine

In recent decades biomedical samples and data have been organized into large depositories such as biobanks. These biobanks have also been founded in Finland to allow for increasingly large-scale, international, and data-intensive biomedical research. Simultaneously expectations of personalized medicine have increased – in the future individuals instead of averages will be treated, and genomic data may be utilized in the clinics or in disease prevention. This study – rooted in science and technology studies, and linking to discussions of the role of expectations and imaginaries – examines biobanks as conditions of possibility for personalized medicine to become reality: that is, how biobanks are expected to make personalized medicine possible. The rearranging of biomedical research through biobanks is investigated against the backdrop of personalized medicine as a sociotechnical imaginary: a vision of a desirable future, which is both built on, and continuously requires, science and technology, and therefore societal efforts, for its fulfillment (Jasanoff and Kim, 2015). Consequently, this study asks: What do the expectations related to biobanks as conditions of possibility for personalized medicine tell us about the knowledge production in which biobanks are supposed to participate, and the role biobanks play in it? To answer this question, biobanking is studied through three different lenses. The analytical sections unpack, first, the claims of high quality samples they store; second, the ideas related to research population(s) seen to be stored in biobanks; and third, their link to the expectations of translational medicine. Thus, it is explored how biobanks are expected and said to contribute to contemporary biomedical knowledge production that takes place in highly regulated settings. The main argument of the study is that the very idea of biobanks is being reshaped as operations, conventions, regulatory frameworks, and new expectations are linked to the imaginary of personalized medicine and require that action be taken. The different layers of stakeholders, regulations, developments, and projects that condition and constrain biobanking and hence knowledge production, have, and continue to have, an effect on what biobanks are considered and understood to be, and the kind of knowledge and scientific practices they could foster. The analytical chapters illustrate the multiplicity of tendencies and linkages attendant on biobanks as they begin to reorganize biomedical research.Biopankkeja on perustettu viime vuosikymmenten aikana organisoimaan ihmisperäisten näytteiden ja niihin liitetyn terveystiedon keräystä, säilytystä ja jakelua. Niitä on pidetty kansainvälisen, data-intensiivisen ja suuriin aineistoihin perustuvan biolääketieteellisen tutkimuksen mahdollistajina. Myös Suomessa on perustettu biopankkeja, joilla nähdään olevan tärkeä rooli yksilöllistetyn, henkilökohtaisen lääketieteen kehittämisessä. Odotus on, että tulevaisuudessa potilaiden hoito voidaan räätälöidä juuri heille sopivaksi. Myös genomitietoa voitaisiin hyödyntää niin potilashoidossa kuin sairauksien ennaltaehkäisyssä. Tässä tieteen ja teknologian tutkimukseen sekä odotusten sosiologiaan kiinnittyvässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan biopankkeja henkilökohtaisen lääketieteen toteutumisen edellytyksenä. Biolääketieteellisen tutkimuksen uudelleenjärjestelemistä biopankkien kautta tutkitaan suhteessa henkilökohtaiseen lääketieteeseen. Henkilökohtainen lääketiede nähdään sosioteknisenä kuvitelmana eli näkemyksenä tavoittelemisenarvoisesta tulevaisuudesta (Jasanoff ja Kim, 2015). Tämä tulevaisuuskuva perustuu tieteeseen ja teknologiaan, edellyttää niitä ja näin ollen vaatii siis yhteiskunnallisia toimia toteutuakseen. Tutkimuksessa kysytään: Mitä odotukset biopankeista henkilökohtaisen lääketieteen edellytyksinä paljastavat siitä tiedontuotannosta, johon niiden odotetaan osallistuvan sekä biopankkien itsensä roolista tässä tiedontuotannossa? Kysymykseen vastataan tarkastelemalla biopankkeja kolmesta näkökulmasta. Analyysiosioissa asiaa käsitellään ensinnäkin tarkastelemalla väitettä biopankkien korkealaatuisista näytteistä. Toiseksi huomio kiinnitetään käsityksiin tutkimuspopulaatioista, joita biopankeissa säilytetään. Kolmanneksi analysoidaan biopankkien linkkiä odotuksiin translationaalisesta lääketieteestä. Analyysiosioissa huomio kiinnittyy siihen, miten biopankkien odotetaan osallistuvan tiedontuotantoon ja olevan hyödyksi biolääketieteen tarkkaan säädellyissä käytännöissä. Tutkimuksen pääargumentti on, että idea biopankista muuntuu ja muokkautuu sitä mukaa, kun uusia toimintatapoja, säädöksiä ja odotuksia kiinnittyy kuvitelmaan henkilökohtaisesta lääketieteestä, jonka toteutuminen vaatii toimia. Asiaan eri tavoin liittyvät toimijat, säädökset, kehityskulut, uudet projektit ja avaukset, jotka kaikki ovat samanaikaisesti biopankkitoiminnan jatkuvuuden ehtoja että sen rajoittajia, vaikuttavat siihen mitä biopankkien ymmärretään olevan ja minkälaiseen tiedontuotantoon ne osallistuvat sekä minkälaista tietoa ne voivat tuottaa

Latvia as a Shadow-Economy Offshore Financial Centre in the Age of Anti-Money Laundering

This thesis explores the impact of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regime on the geography of illicit offshore finance, using a Foucaldian governmentality approach, for the case of Latvia. Latvia is the only post-Soviet financial centre to have been implicated directly in the illicit financial flows of the 1990s, but which after 2000 went on to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the European Union, the Eurozone and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), while satisfactorily adopting FATF rules. How did FATF effect illicit financial flows via Riga after 2000? Based on interviews with Latvian and international bankers, regulators, investigators and observers, as well as digital data mobilised from surface, deep, social and dark webs, this thesis describes the development of a banking sector in Riga that was defined by its being de jure onshore, de facto offshore. Latvia had none of the regulatory identifiers of an offshore financial centre such as low tax rates and high levels of corporate secrecy, ringfenced for non-residents, and boasted a high level of compliance with FATF rules. But at the time of gaining independence from the Soviet Union it radically deregulated its banking sector, opening it to offshore shell firms holding dollar deposits on behalf of customers from other former Soviet states. Latvia’s being effectively whitelisted by FATF and OECD after 2000 lent legitimacy to such money, while political protection for the offshore banking sector informally exempted it from anti-money laundering (AML) laws. Dollar payments routed via Riga between the post-Soviet shadow economies and the US correspondent banking system soared after 2000. In the case of Latvia, the geography of financial legitimacy described in the indices of the FATF regime legitimised undeclared funds from the post-Soviet shadow economy. The proliferation of indices of financial legitimacy was thus grist to the money launderers’ mill. The need to combat illicit offshore financial flows that undermine democracies remains urgent