Browsing by Subject "data economy"

Datafication, the continually expanding technological trend to convert different aspects of people’s lives in computable form and commodifying them, has proven to be economically significant in the last few decades. The trend has been accompanied by increasing social criticism regarding its underlying practices and ideologies, and cooperative models have been proposed as alternatives to combat issues originating from the operating models of profit-seeking data-driven companies. The thesis discusses datafication through the case of the Finnish network of cooperatives, S Group, and inspects how it frames datafication in relation to its collectively and ideologically managed business model and its customer-owners. As the owners of the cooperative are also targets of its data-based manipulations, the relationship between them is intricate and sometimes contradictory. The theoretical framework of the thesis considers the power imbalances and information asymmetries concerning the subjects and objects of data. It is divided to three perspectives: Collective perspective of cooperative action, individual perspective of consumer agency, and the relationship perspective intersecting the former two through the manipulation of decision-making environments (nudging). All three perspectives are discussed first by their original definitions, followed by discussion relating to the effects of datafication on them. The research problem in the thesis is how the aggregation of individuals purchase data into instruments of collective action is presented in the context of cooperative trade. It is researched with an interpretative grounded theory approach of collecting and analysing the research material. The material was compiled from public informational communications articles, especially press releases, news articles, and blogs collected from S Group's websites. Three interdependent levels at which human behaviour and social activity is managed are identified in the thesis: Individual level, community owners’ level, and national population level. S Group justifies these levels by their connection to each other and by assigning benefits related to the cooperatives operating principles, ideology, and practical operations to each level. Framing these benefits is additionally strengthened by the strategies of nudging and enabling used to optimistically promote datafication and consenting to it further. The results of the thesis cannot be generalized nor was this the aim of it. Instead, the thesis’ purpose is to bridge the gap between individual and collective considerations in relation to datafication. Additionally, its aim is to encourage discussion of the fair prerequisites of datafication, one of them being real possibilities of participation for individual consumers as the producers and object of data.