Isto Huvila

Title of the lecture

The accelerating datafication of social life from everyday pursuits to societal and economic decision-making to scientific research means that we rely more and more on “data”. But do we know if, how and why we can and sometimes should not rely on it? In addition to knowing what the data is about, we should also know where the data comes from, who created it, how, why, and how it has been processed after its conception. Information on data creation, processing and use is “paradata” – and remarkably often there is far too little of paradata available.



This presentation shows where paradata can be found, how it works, and how appropriate paradata can make data more useful, usable, and trustworthy. The presentation is based on the results of five years of research in the ERC-funded research project CApturing Paradata for documenTing data creation and Use for the REsearch of the future (CAPTURE). Drawing on examples from a range of disciplinary contexts in scientific and scholarly research, professional and everyday life, the presentation shows the variety of ways how we can figure out how earlier data making has taken place on the basis on a great variety of information sources, how paradata works in practice i.e. how it tells us about data creation, processing, use and the interllectual work underpinning them. Finally, the presentation delves into the series of techniques how to collect, preserve and extract paradata useful for data creators and users across contexts.