Research Handbook on Digital Data
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Published on 23. March 2026
Book
Hardback
408 pages
978-1-0353-4870-1 (ISBN)
Description
This Research Handbook explores the function and impact of digital data on various spheres of organizational and social life. It examines essential research across disciplines, including management, sociology, and economics, establishing a foundational understanding of the increasing importance of digital data in contemporary society.
By situating its chapters within the layers of a digital data stack, this unique Research Handbook not only offers a variety of diverse perspectives and approaches, but it also provides a structure for cumulative insight. Leading scholars analyse and interpret the creation, governance, and utilization of data, covering key topics such as machine learning, data heterogeneity, temporal fragilities in data sharing, and blockchain finance. Ultimately, this Research Handbook highlights how the kaleidoscopic nature of digital data gives rise to multiple competing realities, making it a reference point for future scholarship.
The Research Handbook on Digital Data is an essential read for scholars and students of information systems, management, science and technology studies, sociology of technology, public policy, and data governance. It is also of benefit to practitioners in data-intensive fields seeking conceptual clarity and practical insight into the complexities of working with digital data.
By situating its chapters within the layers of a digital data stack, this unique Research Handbook not only offers a variety of diverse perspectives and approaches, but it also provides a structure for cumulative insight. Leading scholars analyse and interpret the creation, governance, and utilization of data, covering key topics such as machine learning, data heterogeneity, temporal fragilities in data sharing, and blockchain finance. Ultimately, this Research Handbook highlights how the kaleidoscopic nature of digital data gives rise to multiple competing realities, making it a reference point for future scholarship.
The Research Handbook on Digital Data is an essential read for scholars and students of information systems, management, science and technology studies, sociology of technology, public policy, and data governance. It is also of benefit to practitioners in data-intensive fields seeking conceptual clarity and practical insight into the complexities of working with digital data.
Reviews / Votes
'This book puts digital data at the center of scholarly inquiry, and the result is a refreshing array of perspectives and approaches for dealing with the topic. A must-read for organizational researchers looking to go beyond the surface in exploring domains such as artificial intelligence, evidence-based decision making, digital platforms & infrastructures, and contemporary business models.' -- Nick Berente, University of Notre Dame, USA 'The Research Handbook on Digital Data offers a comprehensive account of how digital data both shape and are shaped by emerging infrastructures. 24 chapters by leading scholars explore the multifaceted character and implications of digital data, the practices through which it acquires meaning and is used and how it is governed.' -- Robin Williams, The University of Edinburgh, UK 'Turn data into value with contemporary information infrastructure like machine learning, neural networks, and digital twins. Balance privacy, governance, regulation, and organization in traditional or circular economies. A heady mix of insight and practical guidance.' -- John Leslie King, University of Michigan, USAMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cheltenham
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-0353-4870-1 (9781035348701)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Edited by Aleksi Aaltonen, Associate Professor of Information Systems, Stevens Institute of Technology, Marta Stelmaszak, Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Kalle Lyytinen, The Iris S. Wolstein Professor of Management Design, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Content
Contents
1 Looking through the digital data kaleidoscope: introduction to the
Research Handbook on Digital Data 1
Marta Stelmaszak, Aleksi Aaltonen and Kalle Lyytinen
PART I DATA FOUNDATIONS
2 Boundaries between explicit and tacit knowledge: data's world 20
James W. Cortada
3 Data in information infrastructures: foundations and structuring of socio-
economic value 37
Robin Gustafsson, Robert van der Have, Niko Lipiaeinen and Ville Valovirta
4 How datasets become: data journeys from phenomena to facts 57
Matthew Jones
PART II DATA DESIGN
5 Machine learning and artificial neural networks: fundamentally new
paradigms 72
Michael L. Brodie
6 Data-driven digital twins 89
Michael Grieves
7 Is data self-sovereignty possible in a world of data-enabled learning and
artificial intelligence? 108
Ola Henfridsson
8 Data heterogeneity and integration frameworks in modern scientific
research 115
Charles McElroy
9 How design decisions affect data reusability 130
Jeffrey Parsons, Shawn Ogunseye, Aida Nouri, Ryan J. A. Murphy and
Roman Lukyanenko
PART III DATA IN PRACTICE
10 Organizing for data: how digital data imaginaries reconfigure
organizations 150
Tomislav Karacic and Anastasia V. Sergeeva
11 Can the data subaltern speak? A decolonial perspective on data studies 162
Silvia Masiero
12 Quousque tandem? A tale of two data work ironies 177
Elena Parmiggiani
13 Parables of circulating reference 191
David Ribes, Geoffrey C. Bowker and Eric Monteiro
PART IV DATA GOVERNANCE
14 Balancing interests in digital data governance: evolving regulatory and
organizational approaches 203
Elizabeth Davidson and Jenifer Sunrise Winter
15 Temporal fragilities in data sharing and data governance 218
Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa and Anna Essen
16 Data governance - a managerial perspective 233
Christine Legner and Hippolyte Lefebvre
17 Immutable blockchains, mutable rules: comparative governance of
blockchain-based lending 252
Mikhail V. Oet and Evelina Kvedaraviciute
18 Data governance for AI training: unlocking medical data for innovation 280
Angelo Kenneth S. Romasanta and Jonathan D. Wareham
19 User-centric data governance: transforming education and employment
records 297
Yuqiao Xu, Erman Ayday and Youngjin Yoo
PART V DATA USE
20 Synthetic digital data in global finance: great expectations, what
realizations? 310
Carolina Aguerre, Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, Marc Lenglet and
Edemilson Parana
21 The nature and development of a planning data ecosystem 324
Juliette Davret, Carla Maria Kayanan, Rob Kitchin and Samuel Mutter
22 Collaborative distributed machine learning: a path to strengthen data
privacy 340
Sascha Rank, David Jin, Niclas Kannengiesser and Ali Sunyaev
23 Using digital data to shadow physical products in the context of a circular
economy: digital watermarks and the HolyGrail 2.0 initiative 355
Jan Recker and Anne Ixmeier
PART VI AFTERWORD
24 Somebody really ought to do something about that! 371
M. Lynne Markus
1 Looking through the digital data kaleidoscope: introduction to the
Research Handbook on Digital Data 1
Marta Stelmaszak, Aleksi Aaltonen and Kalle Lyytinen
PART I DATA FOUNDATIONS
2 Boundaries between explicit and tacit knowledge: data's world 20
James W. Cortada
3 Data in information infrastructures: foundations and structuring of socio-
economic value 37
Robin Gustafsson, Robert van der Have, Niko Lipiaeinen and Ville Valovirta
4 How datasets become: data journeys from phenomena to facts 57
Matthew Jones
PART II DATA DESIGN
5 Machine learning and artificial neural networks: fundamentally new
paradigms 72
Michael L. Brodie
6 Data-driven digital twins 89
Michael Grieves
7 Is data self-sovereignty possible in a world of data-enabled learning and
artificial intelligence? 108
Ola Henfridsson
8 Data heterogeneity and integration frameworks in modern scientific
research 115
Charles McElroy
9 How design decisions affect data reusability 130
Jeffrey Parsons, Shawn Ogunseye, Aida Nouri, Ryan J. A. Murphy and
Roman Lukyanenko
PART III DATA IN PRACTICE
10 Organizing for data: how digital data imaginaries reconfigure
organizations 150
Tomislav Karacic and Anastasia V. Sergeeva
11 Can the data subaltern speak? A decolonial perspective on data studies 162
Silvia Masiero
12 Quousque tandem? A tale of two data work ironies 177
Elena Parmiggiani
13 Parables of circulating reference 191
David Ribes, Geoffrey C. Bowker and Eric Monteiro
PART IV DATA GOVERNANCE
14 Balancing interests in digital data governance: evolving regulatory and
organizational approaches 203
Elizabeth Davidson and Jenifer Sunrise Winter
15 Temporal fragilities in data sharing and data governance 218
Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa and Anna Essen
16 Data governance - a managerial perspective 233
Christine Legner and Hippolyte Lefebvre
17 Immutable blockchains, mutable rules: comparative governance of
blockchain-based lending 252
Mikhail V. Oet and Evelina Kvedaraviciute
18 Data governance for AI training: unlocking medical data for innovation 280
Angelo Kenneth S. Romasanta and Jonathan D. Wareham
19 User-centric data governance: transforming education and employment
records 297
Yuqiao Xu, Erman Ayday and Youngjin Yoo
PART V DATA USE
20 Synthetic digital data in global finance: great expectations, what
realizations? 310
Carolina Aguerre, Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, Marc Lenglet and
Edemilson Parana
21 The nature and development of a planning data ecosystem 324
Juliette Davret, Carla Maria Kayanan, Rob Kitchin and Samuel Mutter
22 Collaborative distributed machine learning: a path to strengthen data
privacy 340
Sascha Rank, David Jin, Niclas Kannengiesser and Ali Sunyaev
23 Using digital data to shadow physical products in the context of a circular
economy: digital watermarks and the HolyGrail 2.0 initiative 355
Jan Recker and Anne Ixmeier
PART VI AFTERWORD
24 Somebody really ought to do something about that! 371
M. Lynne Markus