A new paper has been published that I was a co-author on. “Datafication, value and power in developing countries: Big data in two Indian public service organizations” extends our previous sectoral analysis of big data to explore the implications more broadly.
Datafication—the growing presence, use and impact of data in social processes—is spreading to all sectors in developing countries. But, to date, there are few analyses of real‐world experiences of datafication in developing country organizations
….Big data systems are facilitating a shift in power from the public sector to the private sector, and from labour and middle management to panopticon‐type control by central managers. Big data intersects with politics especially around the imaginaries of wider stakeholders, changing their view of the financial and political issues that technology can address.
You can find more details and a blog post on the publications page