2020/10/05 by Daniela Ferreira, Mário Vale · 32 citations
Social Sciences · Medicine · #Geographic Information Systems Studies #Data-Driven Disease Surveillance #Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis #Big data #Historicity (philosophy) #Focus (optics) #Epistemology #Value (mathematics) #Sociology #Political science #Philosophy #Law #Computer science #Politics
paper · open access · doi:10.1080/00167428.2020.1832424
published in Geographical Review 112(2), 250-266 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2020/10/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Although much has been written about the challenges of big data, there has been little reflection on the historicity of such debates and what we can learn from it. With this in mind, the aim of this article is to situate the epistemological debates over big data in geography historically. We focus on the three most relevant topics in current discussions around big data that have significant historical resonance, namely its methodological challenges, its scientific value, and its positionality. We conclude by arguing that understanding the historical resonance of current big data debates is helpful to find new ways to question its epistemological consequences.