Research Summary: Critical Data Studies in the Anthropocene

This research introduces the concept of the Anthropocene into critical data studies, calling for an expanded examination of datafication's political and environmental dimensions. It highlights the need to critically assess the extractive and exploitative logics embedded within artificial intelligence and generative computing, particularly regarding their environmental impacts and beneficiaries.

Why it matters

This perspective is crucial for understanding the broader societal and environmental consequences of data-driven technologies. It shifts focus from purely economic or political impacts to encompass ecological sustainability, which is increasingly vital for long-term strategic planning and risk management in any domain leveraging extensive data.

Key insights

• The field of critical data studies, traditionally focused on datafication and politics, needs to integrate the concept of the Anthropocene.
• The scaling of contemporary datafication and generative computing necessitates an expanded theoretical and methodological approach.
• There is a call to interrogate the logics of extraction and exploitation inherent in artificial intelligence.
• Critical data scholars are urged to examine how narratives around datafication's materiality either obscure or reveal its environmental impacts.
• A key question for analysis is identifying who benefits from these data-driven logics.

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.24388