Imagining Digital Data: Policing and Social Media Intelligence

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

Abstract

Our assumptions, beliefs and expectations about digital data shape how we use them to govern organizations and societal affairs. In this article, we conceptualise the role of digital data through the concept of digital imaginaries. Building on studies of policing and digital media, we develop a framework for examining the use of digital imaginaries in contemporary policing efforts. We draw on documentary research on Europol and demonstrate how digital imaginaries are put to work in transnational policing. We identify the articulation of two main digital imaginaries: (i) an imaginary of agency, and (ii) an imaginary of prophetic data. We show how such digital imaginaries operate as tools that can be wielded for good or for evil, and we discuss their underlying assumptions around human agency as well as the politics of platform technology and temporality in policing.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
EditorsSonja Taneja
Number of pages22
Place of PublicationBriarcliff Manor, NY
PublisherAcademy of Management
Publication date2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022: Creating a Better World Together - Seattle, United States
Duration: 5 Aug 20229 Aug 2022
Conference number: 82
https://2022.aom.org/

Conference

ConferenceThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022
Number82
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period05/08/202209/08/2022
Internet address
SeriesAcademy of Management Proceedings
ISSN0065-0668

Keywords

  • AOM annual meeting proceedings 2022
  • AOM seattle 2022

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