Crafting Ever-changing Data Products: Towards a Process Model of Data Work

Konstantin Hopf, Mayur Joshi, Marta Stelmaszak, Arisa Shollo

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

As we produce, collect, work, and live with data, organizational success gets shaped by the capabilities of data analytics. Although data science emerged more than a decade ago, we still lack a thorough understanding of this occupation and its interrelationships with other fields of work. Following prior research on the work of data scientists, which has primarily pursued a “becoming” or “relating” lens on this fledgling occupation, we adopt a “doing” lens to examine and conceptualize data science work from a human-centered perspective. Our qualitative inquiry includes 64 interviews with data scientists and their managers working in 24 globally distributed organizations. We find that data scientists constantly engage in a triangular relationship of practices (crafting data as their material, crafting tools, and crafting products) and thereby ensure the quality of data science work outcomes. The findings can explain changes in other occupations that are taking place as work becomes datafied.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 32nd European Conference on Information System. ECIS 2024
EditorsMichel Avital, Elena Karahanna, Marinos Themistocleous, Ioanna Constantiou, Brian Fitzgerald, Stefan Seidel
Place of PublicationAtlanta, GA
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)
Publication date2024
Article number2308
ISBN (Electronic)9781958200100
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventThe 32nd European Conference on Information Systems: People First: Constructing Digital Futures Together - Coral Beach Hotel & Resort, Paphos, Cyprus
Duration: 13 Jun 202419 Jun 2024
Conference number: 32
https://ecis2024.eu/

Conference

ConferenceThe 32nd European Conference on Information Systems
Number32
LocationCoral Beach Hotel & Resort
Country/TerritoryCyprus
CityPaphos
Period13/06/202419/06/2024
Internet address
SeriesProceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems
ISSN0000-0034

Cite this