Algorithmic life calculative devices in the age of big data

Algorithmic Life This book critically explores forms and techniques of calculation that emerge with digital computation, and their implications The contributors demonstrate that digital calculative devices matter beyond their specific functions as they progressively shape, transform and govern all areas of our life In particular, it addresses such questions as: How does the drive to make sense of, and productively use, large amounts of diverse data, inform the development of new calculative devices, logics and techniques? How these devices, logics and techniques affect our capacity to decide and to act? How mundane elements of our physical and virtual existence become data to be analysed and rearranged in complex ensembles of people and things? In what ways are conventional notions of public and private, individual and population, certainty and probability, rule and exception transformed and what are the consequences? How does the search for ‘hidden’ connections and patterns change our understanding of social relations and associative life? Do contemporary modes of calculation produce new thresholds of calculability and computability, allowing for the improbable or the merely possible to be embraced and acted upon? As contemporary approaches to governing uncertain futures seek to anticipate future events, how are calculation and decision engaged anew? Drawing together different strands of cutting-edge research that is both theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book makes an important contribution to several areas of scholarship, including the emerging social science field of software studies, and will be a vital resource for students and scholars alike Louise Amoore is Professor of Political Geography at the University of Durham and ESRC Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellow (2012–2015) Volha Piotukh is currently Postdoctoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Geography, University of Durham Algorithmic Life Calculative devices in the age of big data Edited by Louise Amoore and Volha Piotukh First published 2016 by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 selection and editorial material, Louise Amoore and Volha Piotukh; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Louise Amoore and Volha Piotukh to be identified as authors of the editorial material, and of the individual authors as authors of their contributions, has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Amoore, Louise, editor of compilation | Piotukh, Volha, editor of compilation Title: Algorithmic life : calculative devices in the age of big data / edited by Louise Amoore and Volha Piotukh Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa Business, [2016] Identifiers: LCCN 2015028239 | ISBN 9781138852839 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315723242 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138852846 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Electronic data processing—Social aspects | Information technology—Social aspects | Big data—Social aspects Classification: LCC QA76.9.C66 A48 2016 | DDC 005.7—dc23LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015028239 ISBN: 978-1-138-85283-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-85284-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-72324-2 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by FiSH Books Ltd, Enfield Contents List of illustrations Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Louise Amoore and Volha Piotukh PART I Algorithmic life The public and its algorithms: comparing and experimenting with calculated publics Andreas Birkbak and Hjalmar Bang Carlsen The libraryness of calculative devices: artificially intelligent librarians and their impact on information consumption Martin van Otterlo PART II Calculation in the age of big data Experiencing a personalised augmented reality: users of Foursquare in urban space Sarah Widmer A politics of redeployment: malleable technologies and the localisation of anticipatory calculation Nathaniel O’Grady Seeing the invisible algorithm: the practical politics of tracking the credit trackers Joe Deville and Lonneke van der Velden PART III Signal, visualise, calculate Bodies of information: data, distance and decision-making at the limits of the war prison Richard Nisa Data anxieties: objectivity and difference in early Vietnam War computing Oliver Belcher ‘Seeing futures’: politics of visuality and affect Matthias Leese PART IV Affective devices Love’s algorithm: the perfect parts for my machine Lee Mackinnon 10 Calculating obesity, pre-emptive power and the politics of futurity: the case of Change4Life Rebecca Coleman Index Illustrations Figures 1.1 Citations in the dataset visualised with ForceAtlas in Gephi 2.1 Statistical prediction models 2.2 Feedback loops and experimentation 2.3 A librarian in: (left) an ordered, physical library; and (right) an unordered, digital or universal library 2.4 Based on analysis of the user’s past library behaviour by the librarian and the data miners, the books (e.g., the first 10 results of a search query) are selected and ordered 2.5 The behaviour in the library of many other people (left) indirectly changes the grouping and ordering of books for the individual on the right 2.6 The left shows knowledge-based grouping of books according to topics Once the new user on the right is profiled as a ‘dog person’, the librarian uses the library itself to infer a good selection of books 2.7 The librarian, as envisioned by H.G Wells, who would answer questions from outside users and would select the appropriate texts 5.1 Know your elements: Ghostery’s tracker ranking visualisation 5.2 Tracker tracking preliminary results, July vs November 2013 5.3 Comparing individual tracker profiles 5.4 Comparing Kredito24.es, Wonga and Spotloan 6.1 Hacktivists as Gadflies by Brecht Vandenbrouke 6.2 HIIDE enrolment device 6.3 SEEK enrolment device 6.4 Handheld biometric enrolment in Afghanistan 6.5 Distributed decision-making; three biometrics system architectures 7.1 HES map indicating the “control” status of hamlets in the Mekong Valley, May 1968 7.2 Examples of manual grid overlays and area-control maps produced at the provincial level 7.3 Hybrid HES maps, computationally-produced with manual additions of area-control Amoore, L 37, 80, 151, 187; calculation 176; changing function of calculation 183–4; politics of possibility 183–4; pre-emptive temporality 184 analogue biometric systems 111, 122n1; see also digital biometric systems analogue library metaphors 43 analytic complexity 150 analytics: little Anderson, B 150, 152, 153; atmosphere of suspicion 153 anonymous data 98 anticipation 72, 73; anticipatory forms of governance 81 Apache Hadoop software 5–6 aperspectival objectivity 134 apophenia apprehension 117; new techniques of 113 apps (smartphone applications): geoweb 57, 58; location-aware apps 57; Tinder 168–9; see also Foursquare Ariely, D., Hitsch, G and Hortaỗsu, A 1656 artificial intelligence (AI) 37; librarians 50–1 augmented realities 63–5; context dependent 68; experienced in qualitatively different ways 67–9; instability of 68; personalised 65–9; see also Foursquare Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) 114, 118, 121 Baghdad: Green Zone 114 Baird, D 134 Barry, A 181 Baudrillard, J 143, 146 Beck, U 183 behavioural engineering 38 Benjamin, W Berry, D 5, big data: 4Vs 2; access control over information 37; analysis across heterogeneous data forms 3; datafication 3; solution to capacity overload 151 bin Laden, Osama 115 biometrically enabled watch lists (BEWLs) 118; incomplete/outdated 121 biometric devices 11–12; see also digital biometric systems biometric enrolment 115–16, 117; capture chain 119; kill-chain 119; watch lists 118, 121; see also digital biometric systems Biometrics Automated Toolsets (BATs) 114 Biometrics Identity Management Agency (BIMA, later Defense Forensics and Biometric Agency) 115, 119, 123n6 Biometrics Task Force (BTF, later BIMA) 123n6 biometric systems: analogue 111; connections between analogue and digital 122n1; see also digital biometric systems biopolitics 152, 161, 173n1 Boltanski, L and Thévenot, L 23, 24; Twitter 26 books: catalogues 40; dynamic 49; ordering systems in libraries 35, 40; selection for libraries 35, 40 Borges, J.L 41, 42 Boyd, D Bozdag, E 48, 48–9 Brin, S 21 browsers (ISPs) 90; cookies 87, 90, 92, 97–8; plugins 92, 93 calculated imaginaries 79–82 calculated publics 117–22; algorithmic production of 118–19; redefining 118 calculation 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 48, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 87, 88, 89, 100, 135, 146, 149, 151, 153, 154, 161–2, 164, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 176, 177, 178, 180, 181, 183, 184, 185, 187, 188, 189n2: about the future 176; definition 178–9; government initiatives 180; new devices for 4; new forms 2; politics of 181; risk 183; starting point 176; theories of 177–8; three-step process 178 calculation of chance: and gaming 168–9; indeterminacy and randomness 161; logic of the exception 161; romantic love 162; theorising 170; see also online dating Callon, M and Muniesa, F 176, 187; concept of calculation 177–8; experimentation in the market 178–9; three-step process of calculation 178 capta 58, 61, 68; shadow 58 Carpo, M 116 Carter, S and McCormack, D.P 149; affectivity 150 cartography 129; manual cartographers 136–7; objective 136–8 catastrophes: anticipation of 72, 73, 81 Certified Latent Print Examiners (CLPEs) 118–19; calculating risk scores 119 Chaitin, G.J 161, 169–70 chance: calculation of see calculation of chance; and love 161 Change4Life campaign 13; aim of 176, 177; categories of obese and overweight 179; children as site of possibility 186; construction of futures 182; engaging directly 187; financial crisis 181; future trends of obesity 178–9; justification for 188; linear progression 183; marketing and advertising 177; neo-liberal form of governance 181; new entities 179; One Year On report 181; politics of futurity 185–8; predicted levels of obesity 182; pre-emption 183; pre-emptive temporality 185; prevention 182–3; range of activities 186; social differences 187–8 Citizenfour (film) Civil Contingencies Act (2004) 72 Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) 139n3 Clark, D.K and Wyman, C.R 135 Clarke, G 83 Clicktale 97, 98 codices 76–7, 80 College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage 164–5 computer code 59–60 computer programs 170 conflict-oriented algorithms 28 consumer credit 88 consumer DNA control maps 137 control over information: access 37; algorithms 10; library metaphor 42–3; manipulation 38–9; prediction 37–8; and privacy 37–9 cookies 87, 90, 92, 97–8 correlation correlation analysis 80, 81 counterinsurgency theory 112–13 County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Services Consultation 84 co-word analysis 31, 32 Crawford, K credit: assessments 91; socio-economic relations 96; see also online consumer credit; Wonga credit checking: big data 91; data 76 credit trackers 11 Cukier, K customer segmentation 90, 100 Daddis, G 130–1, 132 Daston, L 134 Daston, L and Galison, P 133–4 data: anonymous 98; credit checking 76; customisation 46; deluge 130–1; in digital infrastructure 75, 77; ethical complications 83; heterogeneity forms of 77; ingestion 5; instantly available 89; leaked 89–90, 90–1; material form of 76; personal 46–7, 88, 96; Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 96; predictive technologies 58; pseudonymous 98; temporal references 80; types in trackers 93; see also big data data anxieties: cartography 129; impersonal HES worksheets 134; objective cartography 136–8; objectivity 133–4; problems with HES 134; racial lines of data gathering 129; subjective judgement of US district adviser 135 data circulation 75, 76 data derivatives 37, 80 data mobilisation 75–6, 76, 77, 78–9 dating: mobile 168; online see online dating Defense Forensics and Biometric Agency (DFBA, formerly BIMA)) 123n6 deferred acceptance algorithm 165 de Gaetano, C 96 de Goede, M 73, 74, 83 Deleuze, G and Guattari, F.: global capitalism 169 Deleuze, G 8–9 democracy: on the web 24–5 Density Design Lab 96 Derrida, J 152 detention: decisions based on algorithmic calculation 117; global data landscape 122; militarised practices 113; see also digital biometric systems Dewey-decimal system 41 Dewey, J 23 differentiation 13 digital biometric devices 11–12 digital biometric systems 110–11; databases 120; delays between enrolment and data updates 120–1; and detainees 113; detention of enemy combatants 117; expansion 114–15; importation of consistent, standardised information 120; separating insurgents from the populace 114 digital databases 117 digital infrastructure: and data 75; formation of 75; in the FRS 74–5; integration of new data 77; relations between different agents 75, 78–9 digital librarians 36, 51, 52 digital libraries 43; Alexandria 41; arrangement of general knowledge 47; collective behaviour 47; Google 36; hyperlinks 44; influencing library order 46–7; libraryness 44; member profiles 43; ordered spaces of information 39–42; ordering system of books 35; personal data 46–7; social data 47; storage 44; traversing 35–6, 45–8; see also Learning Jungle, the45, 47; physical libraries; universal libraries Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) 93–4 digital subprime 11, 88; algorithmic calculation 94; definition of subprime 102n3; profiling websites 97–100; tracking toolkits 94–6 Dörk, M et al 146–7 drones 119 dynamic books 49 Eco, Umberto 36; universal library 41 EdgeRank algorithm 25 Edwards, B 40; libraryness 44 electronic libraries 42 emergence, context of 59 emergency response 72, 81; see also FRS (UK Fire and Rescue Service) Esposito, E estimated preference profiles 165 Evans, B et al 181, 185–6, 186 event stream processing exception: logic of 161 Experian: MOSAIC 76 Facebook 25; algorithms 22; ForceAtlas28–9; orderings 25, 27; personal online data 88; recent engagements 25 feedback loops: full 39 filter-bubble concept 48, 60–1 filtering 62, 66 fingerprints 117, 118–19, 122n1 fire: commoditisation of 84; fatality data 78, 79; investigations 78; lifestyle distribution 77–8, 80, 81–2; location history 78; and MOSAIC 76, 77–8, 78, 79; quotidian patterns 81; risk see fire risk; risk profiling 77–8, 79, 80; see also UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) Fire and Rescue Services Act (FRS Act) 72–3 fire risk 11; anticipatory forms of government 81; commoditisation of 84; differing temporalities 80; digital infrastructure of the FRS 74–5; and MOSAIC 76, 77–8, 78, 79; profiling 77–8, 79, 80; temporal registers 81 ForceAtlas 28–9; orderings 29 Foresight report 176, 178–9, 182; predicted levels of obesity 182 Foucault, M 83; security 152 Foursquare 62–3; alterity 64, 65, 67, 68; application 10; availability of content 64; check-ins 62; consumption practices 67; content generated by users 63–4; dream of transparency 64; experiencing augmented realities in qualitatively different ways 67–9; filtering 62, 66; local search engine profile 62; mediators 63–5; personalisation 63; personalisation algorithms 64–5; personalised augmented realities 65–7; personalised content 67; recommendations 62–3; scope of 58; tips of strangers 67–8 FRS see UK Fire and Rescue Service full body scanners 147 full feedback loops 39 future uncertainties 150 Fyfe, G and Law, J 145, 146 Gale-Shapley (GS) algorithm 13, 164–5, 166; logic of 167 Galloway, A.R 168 Game Theory 167 gaming 168–9 gatekeepers 48–9, 52 geographical information 57–8 geoweb: context of emergence 59; personalisation of content 59, 60; personalisation of services 58, 59; services 57, 58; see also augmented realities; Foursquare Gephi 28; see also ForceAtlas28–9 Ghostery 11, 94, 95, 96; plugins 92–3; third-party trackers 92–3 global counterinsurgency 112 global data landscape: wartime detention 122 Gödel, K 169–70 GoodReads 49 Google+ 97, 98 Google: digital library 36; elders 25, 26; ForceAtlas28–9; Knowledge Graph 51; mission 24; orderings 24–5, 27; personal online data 88; political philosophy 24–5; rankings 21, 22, 24–5, 48; user profiles 46 Google Books 42, 43 Google Maps 57–8 governmentality 83 Graham, M and Zook, M 64 Graham, M., Zook, M and Boulton, A 63, 64, 68 Graham, S 59–60 Gregory, D 119 Grindr 168 Hacking, I 3, 131 Hadoop software 5–6 halting function 170 Hamlet Evaluation System (HES) see HES (Hamlet Evaluation System) Hamlet Evaluation Worksheet 132–3 handheld biometric devices 115–16 Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE) 111, 115 Haraway, D.J 144, 146 Hayles, N.K Heino, R et al 169 Her (film) 171–2 HES (Hamlet Evaluation System) 132–3; computer-generated maps 128; development of 132–3; displacement of subjective judgements 129; Hamlet Evaluation Worksheet 132–3; inaccurate counts of populations and hamlets 135; intelligence source 128; limitations 130; misrepresentation of output data 131; opposition to 139; problems after introduction 134; progression and regression patterns 136, 137; Province Hamlet Plot 136; reliability problems 131; revisions 136; in South Vietnam 127–8; visual register 128; see also data anxieties Hetexted.com 164 Hildebrandt, M Home Fire Safety Checks (HFSCs) 76 human agency 152–3 Huntington, S 135–6 Huysmans, J 154–5 hyperlinks 44 IBM: Intelligent Miner software 5; Systems/360 model computer 130; Watson cognitive analytics engine identity: digital 118; Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) 123n12 identity dominance 110 identity processing 115 incomputability 161, 162, 169–70 information poor 186 information society 73 infovis (information visualisation) 145 ingestion: of data Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) 123n12 intelligence librarians 10 Intelligent Miner software see IBM invisibility registers 91–4 IP addresses 90 Kitchin, R and Dodge, M 58, 61 Kittler, F 162, 171, 172 knowledge: access to 48 knowledge discovery: calculative devices 3–9 Knowledge Graph 51 knowledge production 152, 153 knowledge representation languages 37 Kreditech 91; big data scoring 91 Kredito24.es 98, 99 Lacan, J 162, 170, 171 Laclos, C 163 Lash, S 185 Latour, B 21–2, 61 Law, J 75 Law, J and Whittaker, J 146 leaked data 89–90, 90–1 Learning Jungle, the 45, 47 Leese, M and Koenigseder, A 147 Legere, L.J 134 Leibniz, G W von librarians: artificially intelligent 50–1; cataloguing 40–1; digital 51, 52; ordering systems for books 35, 40, 41; selecting books 35 Librarians' Glossary 40 libraryness 44 Library of Babel, The (Borges) 41, 42 lifestyle distribution 77–8, 80, 81–2 linear progression 183 Lippmann, W 23 lively content 30–1 loans 90; see also Wonga localisation 74; MOSAIC 78, 79 localism 83, 84 Localism Act (2011) 83, 84 location-aware apps 57 location-based services 57 love: algorithmic computation and calculus 162; code 167; declarations of 166–7; Gale-Shapley (GS) algorithm 164–5; and gaming 168; Her (film) 171–2; longing 163; and marriage 164–5, 165–6; and the media 162–4; opaque qualities 172; rational calculus 161; romantic literature 162, 163; Weberian notion 162; see also calculation of chance; online dating Luhmann, N 167 MACOSPOL project (MApping Controversies in Science for POLitics) 21–2 manipulation: control over information 10, 38–9, 43 Manovich, L 59 mapping 21–2 markets: concept of calculation 177–8; experimentation 178–9; social marketing 180 Marres, N 29 marriage: and online dating 165–6; stability 164–5 Massumi, Brian 143–4, 149; affectivity 150; non-representational visuality 151; pre-emption 183; prevention 182–3 matchstick figures 147–8 Mayer-Schönberger, V McNamara, R 130, 132, 139 mediators 61–3, 63–5; Foursquare62–3 Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) 127; data deluge 130–1; Data Management Agency 130 mobile dating 168 mobility regimes 153 Möbius topology 164 Moor, Liz 180–1, 181; performative character of social marketing 182 MOSAIC 76; correlative analysis 80; fire fatality data 78, 79; fire investigation data 78; inadequacy of lifestyle distribution data 77–8; lifestyle map 80; localisation 78, 79; over-representation analysis 81; temporal configurations 81 Muniesa, F Nagl, J 112–13 Name of the Rose, The (Eco) 36 National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) 118 National Security Agency (NSA) 91–2 National Social Marketing Centre (NSMC) 180, 181, 182 neoclassical economics theory: and calculation 177–8 Netflix: personal online data 88 None So Blind (Allen) 140n4 non-representational visuality 145–7, 146, 153 obesity crisis see Change4Life campaign objective cartography 136–8 ocularcentrism 145 Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM, formerly US-VISIT) 123n12 O’Malley, P 73 online consumer credit 88 online dating 163; algorithmic calculability 170; case study 165–6; data 165; discreet menus 163; error terms 167; and gaming 168–9; market value of users 164; matching algorithms 164; objectification of partner selection 164; self and other 162–3; shared interests 166; see also calculation of chance online tracking 91–2 OpenTag 100 ordering principles: Facebook 25, 27; ForceAtlas29; Google 24–5, 27; lively content 30–1; Twitter 25–6, 27 over-representation analysis 81 PageRank (Google) 21, 22, 24–5, 48 Pariser, E 48, 57, 60 passive obesity 176, 182 payday: lenders 89; lending 102n5; loans 88 PayPal: risk flag 144–5 personalisation: algorithms 64–5; of consumer goods and services 59; of data 46; in Foursquare 63; of web content 59, 60 personalised augmented realities 65–9 Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 96, 98 Petraeus, General D 114–15 physical libraries 40–1; design of 40; graph structures 40; physical solutions 43–4; users' activities 43–4 plugins 92, 93 Poitras, L political philosophies see ordering principles politics of: calculation 181; futurity 185–8; possibility 183–4; visuality 146–7, 150, 151–3, 155 population: sampling 3–4; statistical calculative devices possibility, politics of 183–4 poststructuralism 170 prediction model: control over information 10, 37–8, 43 predictive technologies 58 pre-emption 149, 150, 183; pre-emptive temporality 184, 185 prevention: as mode of power 182–3 PRISM 14, 82–3 privacy 37–9 probability calculus 161 prosumers 10, 59 Province Hamlet Plot 136 pseudonymous data 98 public health see Change4Life campaign public-private assemblages 83, 84 publics: and algorithms 23–4; alternative calculated 28–32; caricatures 25; Facebook 25; Google 24–5; Twitter 25–6 quantification 129–30 quantitative maps 136, 137 quantitative modelling 178 QuBit 100 Quetelet, A radio frequency identification (RFID) chips 45 rational calculus 161 Rational Choice Theory 166, 167 risk: calculated 150; derivative forms of 184; establishment of 148–9; fire 11, 74–5; governance 72–3; society 183 robots 49–50 romantic literature 162, 163 romantic love see love Rose, G 146 Rostow, W 132 Safari 100 sampling: population 3–4 search engines 36; bias in 48; collective behaviour 47; context 47; gatekeepers 48–9, 52; intuitive capabilities 50; Yelp 66; see also Foursquare Secure Electronic Enrolment Kit (SEEK) 111, 115; SEEK II 115 security: entrepreneurial agents of 82–4; global 111–14; identifying enemies 112–13; mediated practices 113; targeting potentially catastrophic risks 112 security apparatus 73 segmentation: customer 90, 100 semantics 51 set theory 166, 167 short-term credit 88 Skinner, B.F 38 Snowden, E 5, 6, 14, 91–2 social control 87, 102n1 social marketing 180–1; justification of Change4Life campaign 188; mode of governance 182; performative character of 182; see also Change4Life campaign sociology of the invisible 87, 88, 101 socio-technical knitting 96 software-sorted geographies 59–61 South Vietnam see Vietnam War sovereign information sharing spatial distance Speculative Security (de Goede) 83 Spotloan 98, 99, 100 Star, S L 87, 88, 102n1 statistical methods 37 Stoler, A L 129 subprime see digital subprime technosexual era 168 Territorial Forces Evaluation System 131 Terrorist Incident Reporting System 131 Tet offensive 139n3 ThinkFinance 91 third-party trackers 92–3, 94 ThreatMetrix 100; Cybercrime Defender Platform 100 Thrift, N 151, 153 Tibco® 8: Spotfire® Tinder 162, 168–9; app 168; bots 169 trackers: broad increase of 96; cookies 87, 90, 92; data types 93; Google+ 97, 98; profiling 97–100; sociotechnical knitting 96; third-party 92–3, 94; see also online tracking; credit trackers Tracker Tracker 94, 95–6; collected data types 95–6 Turing, A 1, 170 Turing test 171 Twitter 25–6; algorithms 22; ForceAtlas28–9; orderings 25–6, 27; trends 25–6 Twitter Trends algorithm 25, 26 UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) 11, 72; anticipation 72, 73, 81; data security 83–4; digital infrastructure 74–5, 77; entrepreneurialism 84; fire fatality data 78, 79; individual software 75; localism 83, 84; risk analysis 80–1; technological redeployment 82–3, 83; temporal registers 81; use of MOSAIC 76, 77–8, 78, 79 undecidability, theorem of 169–70 universal libraries 41–2 US Army Map Service 136 US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Vanderbilt, T 50, 51 Viet Cong 128 Vietnam War: abuse of military statistics for political purposes 131; body count 132; civilian agencies 129; data deluge 130–1; geographic and population control 127; introduction of computers 139; language problems of US advisers 135; reliable military intelligence 132; reporting systems 130–1; strategic hamlet program 132; subversive effects 131; understanding of peasantry and lifestyle 129; US military violence 135–6; US pacification campaign 127; war without fronts 139 Virilio, P 145–6 visibility registers 91–4 vision machine 146 visualisation functioning 12 visuality 143–4; affectivity 150, 151, 151–3; airport security 147–8; atmosphere of suspicion 153; calculation and representation 145–7; establishment of risk 148–9; infovis (information visualisation) 145; non-representational 145–7, 146, 151, 153; notion of uncertainty 149; opacity 149; politics of visuality 146, 146–7, 150, 151–3, 155; questions about 146; social power relations 144; on truth and omission 148–9; visualities as affective triggers 150 Watson cognitive analytics engine web algorithms 22; public officials 23; see also ordering principles Weber, M 162 web, the: democracy on 24–5; mapping 21–2; navigational difficulties 21; ordering 10; personalisation of content 57; see also geoweb Wonga 11, 88–9; browser variations 90; credit assessment 89, 91; customer segmentation 90; dependence on data 89; encouragement of riskier borrowers 90; in-house credit scoring system 89; leaked data 89–90, 90–1; speedy credit decisions 89; trackers 98, 99, 100; use of cookies 90; users' IP addresses 90; website sliders 89–90, 90 Yelp 66 YouTube 187 Zestfinance 91 Zizek, S 168 ... surface across these plural spaces First, calculative devices in the age of big data are engaged in the filtering of what can be seen, so that they create novel ways of perceiving the world and... If the metaphor of big data is to continue to capture our understanding of digital life, then it cannot have meaning without algorithmic calculative devices From the financial subject’s online... partitioning of a vast background of structured and unstructured data (the ‘bulk’ or ‘haystack’) Second, calculative devices in the age of big data are transforming the ordering of space, territory and