Kennedy, H. and Hill, R.L. (2018) The Feeling of Numbers: emotions in everyday engagements with data and their visualisation. Sociology , 52 (4). pp. 830-848. ISSN 0038-0385
Abstract
This paper highlights the role that emotions play in engagements with data and their visualisation. To date, the relationship between data and emotions has rarely been noted, in part because data studies have not attended to everyday engagements with data. We draw on an empirical study to show a wide range of emotional engagements with diverse aspects of data and their visualisation, and so demonstrate the importance of emotions as vital components of making sense of data. We nuance the argument that regimes of datafication, in which numbers, metrics and statistics dominate, are characterised by a renewed faith in objectivity and rationality, arguing that in datafied times, it is not only numbers but also the feeling of numbers that is important. We build on the sociology of a) emotions and b) the everyday to do this, and in so doing, we contribute to the development of a sociology of data.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Sociology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | data; emotions; everyday life, feelings; engagement; visualisation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 Sep 2016 09:02 |
Last Modified: | 07 Jul 2023 15:59 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0038038516674675 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:105061 |