Warum ›Daten‹ nicht genügen. Digitale Spuren als Kontrolle des Selbst und als Selbstkontrolle

Abstract

As an alternative to the seemingly natural objectivity and self-evidence of ‹data›, this paper develops a critical conceptualization of ‹digital traces›. Underlining the materiality and discursiveness of traces allows us to understand and articulate both the technical and sociopolitical implications of digital technology. The philosophies of Gilbert Simondon and Michel Foucault provide strong ontological and epistemological frameworks for interpreting the relationships between technology and processes of subjectification. In this light, digital traces are modeled as objects and products of heteronomous interventions, the logics of which can be traced through the algorithms deployed. The digital trace paradigm offers a new perspective on how forms of self-control and control of the self are interdependent facets of ‹algorithmic governmentality›.