The Digital Prism: Transparency and Managed Visibilities in a Datafied World

Many people are concerned about the unchecked powers of tech giants and the hidden operations of big data and algorithms. Yet we do not have the vocabularies to properly articulate how these digital transformations shape our lives. This book shows how the management of visibilities - our digital footprints - is a central force in the digital transformation of societies and politics. Seen through the prism of digital technologies and data, the lives of people and structuring of organizations take new shapes in our understanding. Making sense of these requires that we push beyond common ways of thinking about transparency and surveillance, and look at how managing visibilities is a central but overlooked force that influences how people live, how organizations work and how societies and politics operate.