Understanding the Proliferation of Data Dashboards in Global Governance: Concrete Steps for Analysing Changing Artifacts and Knowledge Practices
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2024-02-09
Author(s)
Abstract
In the recent past, publicly accessible data dashboards have proliferated in global governance. They have become a central means through which information and knowledge about the world and its problems are made available. Rather than looking at the world through them, the paper shows that data dashboards themselves warrant closer inspection and turns them into an object of study.
Interpreting data dashboards as digital artifacts, such an analysis can account for their specific features and materiality as well as for the knowledge practices that have emerged around them. This in turn unveils how data dashboards change the way in which international organizations, states, and other actors alike represent, perceive, and address the world’s problems. After all, data dashboards constitute a specific form
of communication and the messages they convey make some political responses more plausible than others.
In addition to situating data dashboards in larger discussions on, for example, the quantification and datafication of global governance, the paper proposes concrete steps for an analysis of data dashboards and illustrates possible findings with a case study. While data dashboards have proliferated in various issue areas, the paper focuses on global health.
Interpreting data dashboards as digital artifacts, such an analysis can account for their specific features and materiality as well as for the knowledge practices that have emerged around them. This in turn unveils how data dashboards change the way in which international organizations, states, and other actors alike represent, perceive, and address the world’s problems. After all, data dashboards constitute a specific form
of communication and the messages they convey make some political responses more plausible than others.
In addition to situating data dashboards in larger discussions on, for example, the quantification and datafication of global governance, the paper proposes concrete steps for an analysis of data dashboards and illustrates possible findings with a case study. While data dashboards have proliferated in various issue areas, the paper focuses on global health.
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Event Title
SPSA Annual Conference
Event Location
St. Gallen
Event Date
8-9 February 2024
Subject(s)
Division(s)