Data ethnographies (1) : personal data in an uncertain world

Big Data has rapidly become a core thing for the social sciences. It is a process, a form of digital materiality, and a field of research and activity. It has also become something of a promise for society, government and companies, offering the idea of endless knowledge possibilities (even if these might be able to be played out). In fact, Big Data stands for a layer of not necessarily determinate or visible knowledge that emanates from and permeates everyday life, organisations, government and activism. It raises concerns, anxieties, opportunities, and has generated a new academic journal Big Data and Society as well as new institutional contexts for studying Big Data (such as the Data & Society Institute in New York).