Dencik, Lina  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1982-0901, Hintz, Arne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9902-4736 and Carey, Zoe
2017.
Prediction, preemption and limits to dissent: social media and big data uses for policing protests in the UK.
New Media & Society
20
(4)
, pp. 1433-1450.
10.1177/1461444817697722
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Abstract
Social media and big data uses form part of a broader shift from ‘reactive’ to ‘proactive’ forms of governance in which state bodies engage in analysis to predict, pre-empt and respond in real time to a range of social problems. Drawing on research with British police, we contextualize these algorithmic processes within actual police practices, focusing on protest policing. Although aspects of algorithmic decision-making have become prominent in police practice, our research shows that they are embedded within a continuous human–computer negotiation that incorporates a rooted claim to ‘professional judgement’, an integrated intelligence context and a significant level of discretion. This context, we argue, transforms conceptions of threats. We focus particularly on three challenges: the inclusion of pre-existing biases and agendas, the prominence of marketing-driven software, and the interpretation of unpredictability. Such a contextualized analysis of data uses provides important insights for the shifting terrain of possibilities for dissent.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Published Online |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Journalism, Media and Culture |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Big data, dissent, predictive policing, protest, social media |
| Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
| ISSN: | 1461-7315 |
| Funders: | Media Democracy Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 31 May 2017 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 13 February 2017 |
| Last Modified: | 03 May 2023 11:39 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/99751 |
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