ABSTRACT

How is the ongoing “datafication” in society experienced by consumers? Critical discussions regarding the impact of datafication on consumers seldom study consumers’ actual experiences. Conversely, the studies that do exist of consumers and their experiences of datafication tend to take an individualistic approach, arguing that how consumers experience and respond to the ongoing datafication is the result of their individual psychological make-up or the result of processes of cost–benefit calculations. Against that background, this article will instead show that the ways in which consumers experience and respond to datafication is linked to a number of broader sociotechnical imaginaries. Based on in-depth user interviews and drawing on previous work on sociotechnical imaginaries, this article develops an analysis of consumers’ multiple imaginaries of data collection practices. Findings show that how consumers approach data collection operations is shaped by sociotechnical imaginaries that were both individually and collectively performed by consumers interacting with and using data-collecting devices.

摘要

消费者如何体验社会中正在进行的“数据化”？关于数据化对消费者影响的批判性讨论很少研究消费者的实际体验。相反，确实存在的关于消费者及其数据化体验的研究倾向于采取个人主义的方法，认为消费者如何体验和响应正在进行的数据化是他们个人心理构成的结果或成本过程的结果——效益计算。在此背景下，本文将转而表明消费者体验和响应数据化的方式与许多更广泛的社会技术想象有关。基于深入的用户访谈并借鉴之前关于社会技术想象的工作，本文对消费者对数据收集实践的多重想象进行了分析。调查结果表明，消费者处理数据收集操作的方式受到社会技术想象的影响，这些想象是由消费者与数据收集设备交互和使用时单独和集体执行的。