Once the rarified stuff of scientists and statisticians, data are now at the heart of our global digital economy, transforming everything from how we perceive the value of a professional athlete to the intelligence gathering activities of governments. We are told that the right data can turn an election, help predict crime, improve our businesses, our health and our capacity to make decisions.
Beginning with a simple question - how do most people encounter and experience data? - Nathaniel Tkacz sets out on a path at odds with much of the contemporary discussion about data. When we encounter data, he contends, it is often in highly routinised ways, through formatted displays and for specific cognitive tasks. What data are and can do is largely a matter of how they are formatted. To understand our 'datafied' societies, we need to turn our attention to data's formats and the powers of formatting. This book offers an account of one such format: the dashboard. From their first appearance with the horse and carriage, Tkacz guides readers on the historical development of this format. Through analyses of car dashboards, early managerial dashboards, and the gradual emergence of dashboards as a computer display technology, Tkacz shows how today's digital dashboards came to be, and how their cultural history conditions the present.
Highly original and wide-ranging, this book will change how you think about data.
About the Author
Nathaniel Tkacz is a Reader in Digital Media and Culture at the University of Warwick.
Industry Reviews
“Combining a deep understanding of software, media and critical data studies, Nathaniel Tkacz’s new book is something to get excited about: both extremely intelligent and eminently enjoyable to read.”
Jussi Parikka, Aarhus University
“Nathaniel Tkacz analyses the increasingly ubiquitous ‘dashboards’ that format data and that in the process help to format us as we grapple with uncertainties and struggle to react to changing conditions. Being with Data offers a theory of formatting which is both lucid and timely.”
Lisa Gitelman, New York University
“Tkacz’s book presents a compelling argument for the integral role that data plays in shaping our decision-making and understanding of the world around us. Through insightful analyses of the cultural history of dashboards, he demonstrates how this history continues to shape their current usage and challenges readers to rethink about data and its formats. The book crosses multiple academic fields and is aimed at academic readerships, but Tkacz’s engaging writing style and insightful critique make it accessible and thought-provoking for a broader audience. Tkacz’s multidisciplinary background enables his mastery of the terrain and contributes insights to experts in each respective area.”
Li Zeng, International Journal of Communication
