Big data from the sky: Popular perceptions of private drones in Switzerland

Abstract

Camera-fitted drones are now easily affordable for the public. The resulting extension of the vertical gaze raises a series of critical questions, ranging from the changing regimes of visibility and control that characterise today’s world of “big data from the sky” to the novel opportunities, risks, and power dynamics hence implied. The paper addresses these issues empirically, focussing on the popular perception of commercial and hobby drones in Switzerland. This provides a deeper understanding of the driving forces and obstacles that shape current drone developments and highlights that the societal diffusion of private drones today transforms the very ways in which the aerial realm is lived and perceived, as a highly contested space of risks, opportunities, and power. This discussion is rooted in a research approach that places questions of power and (air-)space at the centre when approaching the drone problematic.