Learning from data journeys

Abstract

The introduction discusses the idea of data journeys and its characteristics as an investigative tool and theoretical framework for this volume and broader scholarship on data. Building on a relational and historicized understanding of data as lineages, it reflects on the methodological and conceptual challenges involved in mapping, analyzing and comparing the production, movement and use of data within and across research fields and approaches, and the strategies developed to cope with such difficulties. The introduction then provides an overview of significant variation among data practices in different research areas that emerge from the analyses of data journeys garnered in this volume. In closing, it discusses the significance of this approach towards addressing the challenges raised by data-centric science and the emergence of big and open data.