BOOK LAUNCH | Kelly Bronson- The Immaculate Conception of Data: Agribusiness, Activists, and Their Shared Politics of the Future

DETAILS AND REGISTRATION:

Join Kelly Bronson for the launch of her new book, The Immaculate Conception of Data: Agribusiness, Activists, and Their Shared Politics of the Future.

All Saints
330 Laurier Avenue East
Ottawa, ON K1N 6P9

Doors open at 5:00pm for a reception. This is a free event

To register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/book-launch-the-immaculate-conception-of-data-tickets-404151567217

Kelly Bronson is Canada Research Chair in Science and Society at the University of Ottawa.

about the book

The Immaculate Conception of Data peeks behind the secretive legal agreements surrounding agricultural big data to trace how it is used and with what consequences. Agribusinesses are among the oldest oligopoly corporations in the world, and their concentration gives them an advantage over other food system actors. Kelly Bronson explores what happens when big data get caught up in pre-existing arrangements of power. Her richly ethnographic account details the work of corporate scientists, farmers using the data, and activist “hackers” building open-source data platforms. Actors working in private and public contexts have divergent views on whom new technology is for, how it should be developed, and what kinds of agriculture it should support. Surprisingly, despite their differences, these groups share a way of speaking about data and its value for the future. Bronson calls this the immaculate conception of data, arguing that this phenomenon is a dangerous framework for imagining big data and what it might do for society.