Description
Book Synopsis
Data and Society: A Critical Introduction investigates the growing importance of data as a technological, social, economic and scientific resource. It explains how data practices have come to underpin all aspects of human life and explores what this means for those directly involved in handling data.
The book
- fosters informed debate over the role of data in contemporary society
- explains the significance of data as evidence beyond the "Big Data" hype
- spans the technical, sociological, philosophical and ethical dimensions of data
- provides guidance on how to use data responsibly
- includes data stories that provide concrete cases and discussion questions.
Grounded in examples spanning genetics, sport and digital innovation, this book fosters insight into the deep interrelations between technical, social and ethical aspects of data work.
Trade Review
As the Founding Editor-in-chief of Harvard Data Science Review, I have studied thousands of pages of data science, with or without Greek letters. But nothing has had a higher density of inspirations per page than Beaulieu and Leonelli’s book. Without going beyond page 5, I already started to think about data singularly and plurally. -- Professor Xiao-Li Meng
Table of Contents
Section 1: Data in Society Chapter 1: Data in Society Section 2: Data Creation Chapter 2: Big Data in Context Chapter 3: Characteristics of Data Chapter 4: Data, Evidence and Knowledge Section 3: Data Circulation Chapter 5: Putting Data to Work Chapter 6: New Data Skills Chapter 7: Governance of Data Journeys Section 4: Data Value, Innovation and Responsibility Chapter 8: Data as a Source of Value Chapter 9: Data Justice and Ethics Chapter 10: Responsible Use of Data as Evidence Section 5: Conclusion: Data and the Knowledge We Need Chapter 11: Towards Good Data Science
