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About the Workshop

The modern State has always handled large quantities of data. Post the so called ‘digital turn’, the ways in which data has been collected, stored and used by the state and other actors have transformed drastically. Increasingly, the modern state has entered into a multi-faceted relationship with different forms of digital media and big data. Moreover, state and the markets collaborate and collude to create and capture data that seem to have serious and far-reaching implications on individual privacy and autonomy. This workshop aims to explore the myriad aspects and modalities of the dynamic relationship between the different arms of the state, big data and digital multimedia. The workshop will address pertinent questions like how have the technologies of the digital multimedia transformed the practices and functions of the state. Conversely, how does the state engage with this onslaught of data in hitherto unforeseen quantities and novel forms, platforms and formats.

So far social scientists have shown how data in digital form is vulnerable to manipulation and how the platforms of dissemination of data are not equally accessible to everyone and operate in a hierarchical manner. This has led to coming together of commercial and state’s interests in shaping people’s lives. Initiatives like PayTM in India and M-pesa in Kenya are examples where classical state responsibilities are shared between state and the market to achieve common goals. Big data and multimedia has been increasingly deployed by the state for regulation and surveillance of its own citizens. Facial recognition of protestors in Taiwan and the techno-legal public regulation policies in Turkey are some examples of the same. Big data and multimedia has also been utilized by state and private organizations to create and implement policy infrastructures like integrating multiple modes of transport systems in cities and regulating water consumption. Finally, a new form of techno-political expertise has emerged that can exert significant influence over society, politics and culture. The workshop will address a plethora of such issues that dwell in the intersection of the state, markets and Big data and digital multimedia. It will delineate the over-arching influence that Big data and digital multimedia has on two of the most significant and influential institutions of our time – the State (includes the government, bureaucracy, police and it employees) and the markets. The workshops also aims to reassert the recent metamorphosis of technical experts into socio-political influencers.

The workshop aims to explore the techno-politics of Big Data through the framework of Digital Humanities. Relevant topics include (but are not restricted to): -