Data mobilities: rethinking the movement and circulation of digital data

Abstract

The mobility of data has been variously described as data: flows, streams, journeys, threads, transfers, exchanges, and circulation. In each case, data mobility is conceived as a movement from here to there; that data moves along a chain of receivers and senders. However, we contend that the metaphors of data flows (or journeys, threads, etc.) does not reflect well the processes by which digital data are shared. Rather, we propose moving from a metaphorical conceptualisation to a description of the actual mechanisms of mobility. Through a case study of the planning data ecosystem in Ireland, we detail how data replicate (replica copies produced), with the original source retaining the data and a new source gaining it, and data proliferate (multiply) across systems and sites when made available. As data replicate and proliferate, they are transformed through processes of data cleaning, data wrangling, and data fusion, producing new incarnations of the source data. Importantly, this rethinking of data mobility makes clear how and why various data incarnations are produced and, in so doing, create fundamental issues regarding the integrity of data sharing and data-driven work, the repeatability, replicability and reproducibility of science, and data sovereignty and the control of data use.