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Data Mines and Data Factories

This question blew my mind:

Am I a data mine, or am I a data factory? Is data extracted from me, or is data produced by me? Both metaphors are ugly, but the distinction between them is crucial. The metaphor we choose informs our sense of the power wielded by so-called platform companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, and it shapes the way we, as individuals and as a society, respond to that power.

I think I’m a data mine because my information is hidden below the surface.  I’m not intentionally producing it for others; it’s something naturally occurring — without my actual input — inside (and technically outside) myself.  I cannot help creating data any more than a mine can choose whether or not it creates its natural resources.  Of course, being a mine means that others can enter and take my data, but my purpose (to me) is not to create data even though other people may see me as a source for data.

The article has a slightly different take on what makes someone a mine or a factory, but both cases clearly can be argued.

So are you a data mine or a data factory?

2 comments

1 a { 07.15.18 at 8:30 am }

I would say I’m a factory, since we are pretty tight with our info around here. The things that go online only present a very small picture of my life.

And although it’s already true, to some extent, the idea of a government repository of all of the online data is horrifying to me.

2 Lori Lavender Luz { 07.15.18 at 7:24 pm }

Fascinating to ponder.

I’m also thinking data factory. The data doesn’t exist until I make a decision about clicking on something or writing something or responding in some way. It seems to me I produce the data as I go.

Or do I? Your argument is compelling, as well.

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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