Introduction: Situating Data as Cultural Inquiry

Abstract

This collection examines the impact of data, datafication, and algorithmization on contemporary culture, and thereby also on the agenda of the broader field of cultural inquiry. Our perspective is double. We ask: Where and how do data and algorithms shape and transform culture? But also, where and how do they impact and transform scholarly practices in the study of culture? Situating data as cultural inquiry, thus, is not only an act of localizing data both in and as culture, but also an act of situating our perspective on, and knowledge about, this culture. With the selection of chapters in this collection, contributing to the diversification of cultural inquiry, we propose conceptual and methodological directions for exploring where, when, and how data and algorithms (re)shape cultural practices, create (in)justice, and produce knowledge.