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Data and Society
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Data and Society
A Critical Introduction



March 2022 | 272 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

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.


 
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

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
Harvard University

This is a very helpful resources in teaching students the beginnings of critical social data science. The structure is simple and intuitive and the book has a good coverage of ethics. I will adopt it for my module.

Dr Stefanie Doebler
Department of Sociology, Lancaster University
June 2, 2023

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