Big data in the sensor society

In this chapter, we put forward a perspective on big data that treats it as a form of embedded infrastructural authority. We argue that big data technologies are analytic prostheses: they make it possible to make sense out of information in new ways. To do so, however, these technologies and processes rely on access to costly infrastructural resources: digital communication networks, giant server farms, and powerful computing systems. They also require the development of sophisticated machine-learning algorithms. The very concept and processes of big data therefore implicate the actions and abilities of technocratic structures and authority