Abstract

Data-driven campaigning has been in the spotlight over several years. Yet, we still have a limited understanding of political data analytics companies: how they envision data analytics and voter targeting, their role in electoral processes and what promises they make to their clients. This article focuses on the way in which such issues are conceived of in the marketing rhetoric of the political data analytics industry. Drawing on a sample of 19 political data analytics companies it systematically explores the ways in which data analytics is envisioned and marketed as a powerful tool in electoral processes, exposing a fundamental disconnect between scholarly discourse on the one hand – often critical of the claims of these companies about the efficacy of their methods – and a highly functionary data imaginary on the other hand, actively fostered by the political data-analytics industry and the media.

摘要

数年以来，以数据为导向的竞选活动一直备受关注。但是，我们对政治数据分析公司的了解仍然有限：他们如何设想数据分析和选民定位，他们在选举过程中的作用以及对客户的承诺。本文重点介绍如何在政治数据分析行业的营销言论中构思此类问题。它以19家政治数据分析公司为样本，系统地探索了将数据分析作为选举过程中强大工具的设想和营销方式，一方面暴露了学术话语之间的根本脱节-通常是对这些论断的批评公司了解其方法的有效性–另一方面，还可以想象到功能强大的数据，