The Database ‘Revolution’
In this article, I counter persistent claims of big data revolutionising managerial decision making, by tracing the technological and cultural origins of data-based management in the United States back to the 1970s and 1980s using historical source materials from the trade magazine Datamation. I arg...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis |
| Online Access: | https://www.tmgonline.nl/article/10.18146/2213-7653.2018.364/ |
| _version_ | 1819155608392171520 |
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| author | Kerssens, Niels |
| author_facet | Kerssens, Niels |
| author_sort | Kerssens, Niels |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, I counter persistent claims of big data revolutionising managerial decision making, by tracing the technological and cultural origins of data-based management in the United States back to the 1970s and 1980s using historical source materials from the trade magazine Datamation. I argue that innovations in database technology within this period – database management systems and the relational database model – shaped and reinforced a data-based mindset. This mindset, I demonstrate, is manifested in four interlinked concepts of data: data as asset, data as raw, data as reality, and data as relatable. These concepts, I argue, provide a basis for current associations of big data with ideological values of objectivity and truthfulness. The article contributes to a growing body of work in media and communication studies that deconstructs the ideological discourses facilitating big data’s unquestioned integration in the business world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:39:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ea0a5a28b2234bacb4c8055d59c70e6c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2213-7653 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:39:41Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis |
| spelling | doaj.art-ea0a5a28b2234bacb4c8055d59c70e6c2022-12-21T18:21:10ZengNetherlands Institute for Sound and VisionTijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis2213-76532018-11-01212710.18146/2213-7653.2018.364The Database ‘Revolution’Kerssens, NielsIn this article, I counter persistent claims of big data revolutionising managerial decision making, by tracing the technological and cultural origins of data-based management in the United States back to the 1970s and 1980s using historical source materials from the trade magazine Datamation. I argue that innovations in database technology within this period – database management systems and the relational database model – shaped and reinforced a data-based mindset. This mindset, I demonstrate, is manifested in four interlinked concepts of data: data as asset, data as raw, data as reality, and data as relatable. These concepts, I argue, provide a basis for current associations of big data with ideological values of objectivity and truthfulness. The article contributes to a growing body of work in media and communication studies that deconstructs the ideological discourses facilitating big data’s unquestioned integration in the business world.https://www.tmgonline.nl/article/10.18146/2213-7653.2018.364/ |
| spellingShingle | Kerssens, Niels The Database ‘Revolution’ Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis |
| title | The Database ‘Revolution’ |
| title_full | The Database ‘Revolution’ |
| title_fullStr | The Database ‘Revolution’ |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Database ‘Revolution’ |
| title_short | The Database ‘Revolution’ |
| title_sort | database revolution |
| url | https://www.tmgonline.nl/article/10.18146/2213-7653.2018.364/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kerssensniels thedatabaserevolution AT kerssensniels databaserevolution |