While many scholars have documented how the pursuit of objective data reshapes relationships, I show how relationships can also affect how people interact with data. The donors and managers of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas were most invested in their relationships with one another. These ties required quantitative data to act as proof that development was happening and money was well spent in the absence of direct observation. In order for numbers to serve this communicative function, the NGO's leaders treated the data produced by development projects as if they were objective representations of reality. However, the NGO's fieldworkers, who produced the data, were invested in ties outside the development community. They relied on their relationships with the NGO's beneficiaries—who were also their friends, neighbors, and kin—to help them survive (socially, emotionally, physically, and financially) in ways that NGO employment could not replace. Far from needing numbers to be objective proof, these relationships required fieldworkers to treat data as flexible and open to interpretation. Beneficiaries used projects in ways that the NGO's leaders did not anticipate or value, and fieldworkers were creative with data production to maintain their ties to both leaders and beneficiaries. [development, data, relationships, NGOs, South Asia]

中文翻译：

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利用数据获得创新：在印度一家非政府组织中管理关系和量化证明

尽管许多学者已经记录了对客观数据的追求如何重塑关系，但我仍展示了关系如何影响人们与数据的交互方式。印度喜马拉雅山山麓下一个非政府组织（NGO）的捐助者和管理者对彼此之间的关系投入最多。这些联系需要定量数据来证明发展正在发生，并且在没有直接观察的情况下花了很多钱。为了使数字能够发挥这种沟通功能，非政府组织的领导人将开发项目产生的数据当作现实的客观表示来对待。但是，产生数据的非政府组织的现场工作人员被投入到开发社区之外的联系中。他们依靠与非政府组织的关系 的受益者（也是他们的朋友，邻居和亲戚）以非政府组织的就业无法替代的方式帮助他们生存（在社会，情感，身体和经济上）。这些关系并不需要数字作为客观证明，而是要求现场工作人员将数据视为灵活且易于解释的。受益人以非政府组织领导者无法预期或重视的方式使用项目，并且现场工作人员在数据生产方面具有创造力，以保持与领导者和受益者的联系。[ 受益人以非政府组织领导者无法预期或重视的方式使用项目，并且现场工作人员在数据生产方面具有创造力，以保持与领导者和受益者的联系。[ 受益人以非政府组织领导者无法预期或重视的方式使用项目，并且现场工作人员在数据生产方面具有创造力，以保持与领导者和受益者的联系。[发展，数据，关系，非政府组织，南亚]