Please forward: Call for Papers on Big Data and Development

[Linnet Taylor]

Organisers:

Karin Pfeffer, Linnet Taylor and Christine Richter, University of Amsterdam

 

New sources of born-digital data (data created by digital communications, sensing or online activities) are considered to have great potential for development geography. Big data approaches and methodologies such as remote sensing data analysis, the use of volunteered geographic information (VGI), and linking and merging complementary sources of digital data (e.g. survey data with social media) have received exponentially more attention over the last three years, and are being investigated as ways to answer existing questions in new ways, or to raise new questions. However, there is a need for critical appraisal of these new sources of data, their potential and their risks, both ethical and methodological. What does it mean to engage in geographic research in an era of ‘datafication’ (Mayer-Schoenberger & Cukier 2011), and what current trends are likely to be most important in determining future research directions?

 

This session will bring attention to the politics and implications of big data methodologies: what are the potential imbalances and asymmetries involved in adopting or developing new approaches to digital data? Which perspectives and actors in development geography are these new data and methodologies likely to foreground, and which may be marginalised, and what is gained or lost when a ‘big data’ perspective is taken on a particular problem? What are the ethical, social and geographical implications of new digital methodologies with relation to development research? In terms of using these methods to research the geographies of development, what differences must be taken into account regarding these new data and methods?  Does the ‘development’ context necessitate a particular perspective on practice or particular forms of collaboration? Finally, are there connections to be drawn – and if so of what kind – between these newer discussions on big data and datafication and previous debates in critical GIScience that emerged in the US during the 1970s (Pickles, Harvey, etc.)?  Finally, what is the role and potential of new disciplinary configurations and collaborations in this new data paradigm?

 

We seek critical analysis of new methodologies for new and emerging classes of digital data as a tool for geographic research on issues of economic and human development, and will particularly welcome papers that focus on methodological insights and empirical cases. We welcome perspectives on multidisciplinarity, combining big and small data or quantitative with qualitative, and new approaches to ground truth.

 

Potential topics include:

·  Advanced modelling techniques and challenges

·  Trends in spatial analysis using born-digital data including acoustic sensors

·  Issues involved in linking and merging datasets

·  Interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to digital data sources

·  Critical approaches to digital research in development geography

·  The interface between ‘big’ and ‘open’ data in development research

·  The politics of data access

·  Ethical, social and geographical challenges with regard to development research using big data

·  New challenges for urban studies

 

Submission Procedure:

 

To be considered for the session, please send your abstract of 250 words or fewer, to: k.pf...@uva.nl andl.e.m....@uva.nl. 

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is September 30, 2014. Notification of acceptance will be before October 10. All accepted papers will then need to register for the AAG conference at aag.org. Accepted papers will be considered for a special issue or edited volume edited by the organisers.