TY - GEN
T1 - What makes data possible? A sociotechnical view on structured data innovations
AU - Aaltonen, Aleksi
AU - Penttinen, Esko
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Drawing from the theory of digital objects, this paper examines the distinction between structured and unstructured data as carriers of facts. We argue that data do not 'have' a structure but are made by a structure that confers data their capacity to represent contextual facts. We employ a case vignette involving XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and its use in statutory financial reporting to illustrate and explore the sociotechnical nature of data and to describe what we call data innovations: new valuable ways to render phenomena as data. We find that data structure is best viewed as a matter that is relative to a purpose in a context. Theorizing data from a sociotechnical perspective could evolve to provide, in effect, the material science of digital economy.
AB - Drawing from the theory of digital objects, this paper examines the distinction between structured and unstructured data as carriers of facts. We argue that data do not 'have' a structure but are made by a structure that confers data their capacity to represent contextual facts. We employ a case vignette involving XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) and its use in statutory financial reporting to illustrate and explore the sociotechnical nature of data and to describe what we call data innovations: new valuable ways to render phenomena as data. We find that data structure is best viewed as a matter that is relative to a purpose in a context. Theorizing data from a sociotechnical perspective could evolve to provide, in effect, the material science of digital economy.
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U2 - 10.24251/hicss.2021.716
DO - 10.24251/hicss.2021.716
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85108326807
T3 - Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
SP - 5922
EP - 5931
BT - Proceedings of the 54th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2021
A2 - Bui, Tung X.
T2 - 54th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2021
Y2 - 4 January 2021 through 8 January 2021
ER -