Satellite Imagery and Datafication: The Reductionary Quantification of Space

• In Event: 540 - Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Science Policy and Governance

Abstract

In an age where satellite images and geoinformational systems are increasingly being integrated with other forms of data and social statistics, it is necessary to understand and historicize how the view presented became a dominant visual form, and what the effects of measured data points that are translated into legible images might be on subjectivities and socialities. This paper parses out the various epistemological, historical and technological registers that converge in this contemporary moment, and frame the horizon of possibilities. The spatial aspects of Big Data, and the management of populations and spaces, have grave consequences in how we understand, analyze, and predict human behavior.

Author

• Monica M. Brannon, New School for Social Research