With generous contributions from the Social Media Collective extended family, I have put together a list that brings together academic and popular writing on metaphors of data, along with pieces that approach questions of data and commercial/political power. The goal in assembling this list was to catalog resources that are helpful in unpacking and critiquing different metaphors, ranging from the hype around big data as the new oil to less common (and perhaps more curious) formulations, such as data as sweat or toxic waste.

Metaphors of Data: a Reading List

These resources were originally compiled to support a workshop on data and power (organized at the Mobile Life Centre in Stockholm, Sweden). Sara Watson’s insightful DIS piece on the Industrial Metaphors of Big Data and Maciej Cegłowski’s brilliant talk Haunted By Data turned out to be particularly helpful for provoking conversation among scholars and practitioners. The hope is that the list could be useful also for others in having critical conversations about data.

The list is best seen as an unfinished, non-exhaustive document. We welcome comments and, in particular, recommendations of further work to include. Please use the comment space at the bottom of the page to offer suggestions, and we will try to update the list in light of them.