Data publics: Viewing datafication through the lens of Media Studies

Millerand, Florence; Latzko-Toth, Guillaume; Millette, Mélanie et Coutant, Alexandre (2026). « Data publics: Viewing datafication through the lens of Media Studies », dans De Gruyter Handbook of Critical Data Studies, sous la dir. de Mejias, Ulises A.; McNealy, Jasmine E. et Miceli, Milagros. Berlin, De Gruyter, pp. 205-217.

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Résumé

This chapter advances Critical Data Studies by introducing data publics as a heuristic concept to critically analyze the social dynamics of datafication. Rather than focusing on data flows, it shifts attention to the social subjects shaped by and shaping data processes. Drawing from Media Studies, the chapter proposes a conceptual framework structured around three key tensions within the notion of public: agentive vs. passive, ideal vs. empirical, and cognitive vs. affective publics. It does so to critically examine how publics are imagined and constructed in data initiatives. An ethnographic case study of Montreal’s Open Data Portal reveals the disconnect between institutional narratives of civic empowerment and the largely professional uptake of open datasets. The foregrounding of the relational and contested nature of data publics provides a nuanced understanding of patterns of public agency, power asymmetries, and the lived realities of datafication in diverse sociotechnical contexts; it also supports comparative analyses of data initiatives at multiple scales.

Type:	Chapitre de livre
Mots-clés ou Sujets:	Datafication, critical data studies, media studies.
Unité d'appartenance:	Centres institutionnels > Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST) Faculté de communication > Département de communication sociale et publique
Déposé par:	Florence Millerand
Date de dépôt:	23 sept. 2026 08:19
Dernière modification:	23 sept. 2026 08:19
Adresse URL :	https://archipel.uqam.ca/secure/id/eprint/20353

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