Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society

Digitization has transformed the way we interact with our social, political and economic environments. While it has enhanced the potential for citizen agency, it has also enabled the collection and analysis of unprecedented amounts of personal data. This requires us to fundamentally rethink our understanding of digital citizenship, based on an awareness of the ways in which citizens are increasingly monitored, categorized, sorted and profiled. Drawing on extensive empirical research, Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society offers a new understanding of citizenship in an age defined by data collection and processing. The book traces the social forces that shape digital citizenship by investigating regulatory frameworks, mediated public debate, citizens' knowledge and understanding, and possibilities for dissent and resistance.

"Every day people become more conscious of the ways that our dealings with the digital both offer new opportunities and shut them off. This refreshing book shrewdly indicates ways forward, by showing that while ubiquitous surveillance often limits our options, critical approaches to data feed into emerging modes of digital citizenship that offer real potential for intervention. Insightful, stimulating and realistic, it is also a model of seamless co-authorship."—David Lyon, Queen's University, Canada "The authors bring surveillance and critical data studies together to make an important contribution to the understanding of citizenship within datafied societies. Critically, their approach considers ubiquitous datafication not only in relation to the expansion of state power and control but also the emergence of new practices of citizen dissent and resistance."—Evelyn Ruppert, Goldsmiths, University of London "An important and timely contribution to current debates in media and communications, and further afield... a crucial read for researchers in the field of media and communications but also for a broader audience."—Justine Gangneux, The University of Glasgow

Arne Hintz is Senior Lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Lina Dencik is Senior Lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Karin Wahl-Jorgensen is Professor of Journalism, Media and Communications at Cardiff University.