Keywords of the Datafied State

Abstract

The datafied state is one remade by the data sources and infrastructures, computational tools and techniques that are now being adopted across government just as they are in the private sector. There is not an absolute distinction between public and private sectors in the datafied state, but more of a blurred boundary. Government does not exist separately and outside of the tech industry, and its relationship to this industry is not simply as a source of regulatory pressure. Governments also procure, develop, implement, and legally mandate the use of digital and computational systems. Government use of tech — and the transformation of government through its use — is the primary interest and concern of this anthology of Keywords on the Datafied State.

Keywords matter. They matter because they often become a key to understanding practices. Keywords for any practice are words that may have broad or generic meanings but take on a certain specificity within the context of that practice. The practices of datafication in organizing the state are no different. This collection of keywords represents views that span the globe to highlight that the datafied state does not have a singular form. While data-driven systems as a distinct form of authority, discourse, and action have the capacity to shape the political culture of a nation-state, the state often has its own repertoire of norms, institutions, and traditions that push back. The interplay between the two manifests in different meanings of a keyword in different geographies. Attending to this difference is crucial for the global project of mapping the ongoing datafication of the state.

Our intention in working towards this anthology was never to be comprehensive, rather it was to invite a broader conversation on the shifting nature of the state as it appropriates ever more complex data-driven systems. This collection is a product of the community that we could gather around our shared research interest, while being physically located within the United States. We hope that our readers see it as a resource for gathering their own communities to engage with the ongoing emergent challenges of contending with the datafied state and as an invitation to explore which keywords matter most to them.

Keywords: Datafication, State, Datafied State, Bureaucracy, Corporate Capture, Public Interest, Automation, Digital IDs, Public Interest Technology, Counterdata, Missing Data, Open Data, Counterpublics, Public Administration, Data Publics, Indigenous Data Sovereignity