When data is capital: Datafication, accumulation, and extraction - Jathan Sadowski.
Image: Johnny Mnemonic directed by Robert Longo (1995). Sadowski prefaces this article with fact that companies appear to be clamouring to collect data. Data whilst not the same as profit can share a similar rationale. Just as we expect these companies to be driven by profit, this is begat from the data they access. Data is a 'foundational form of capital' encompassing everything from the concept of the smart home, town planning and urban design, consumer devices and enterprise systems. The act of gleaning and storing information about people's everyday activities has become normal practice and it shifts how we interact and experience the world; it also places data capital in a position of authority. There is a feedback loop whereby many control systems are predicated on the continual gathering and processing of raw data in order for yet more to be generated in its place. Implications include; "subjecting previously non-commodified and non-monetised parts of life t...
