Episode 19: Nick Couldry, Data Colonialism and the mediated construction of reality

Digital Sociology Podcast

For this episode of the Digital Sociology Podcast I spoke to Nick Couldry who is Professor of Media, Communication and Social Theory at the London School of Economics

He suggests that digital platforms are appropriating "human life without limit" as all aspects of our life become transformed into data. Nick and his co-author Ulises A. Mejias describe this as a form of big data colonialism as it is a process through which our lives are deemed apt for extraction and appropriation without payment (like the raw materials of the new world were by colonisers).

We also talked about Nick's book The Mediated Construction of Reality, written with Andreas Hepp, which suggests ways in which we can take proper account of the role which media play in the ways in which we understand the world. In particular, we focused on how data is shaping our experience and understanding of reality.

Here is the website for Nick's forthcoming book is:

https://colonizedbydata.com/

Nick Couldry and Ulises A. Mejias 'Data Colonialism: Rethinking Big Data's Relation to the Contemporary Subject' Television & New Media

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527476418796632?journalCode=tvna

Nick Couldry and Andreas Hepp The Mediated Construction of Reality

http://politybooks.com/the-mediated-construction-of-reality/