The increased importance of data and its consequences have reached the social debate about the data-governance of the public sector. With recent data scandals in the Netherlands in municipalities,...Show moreThe increased importance of data and its consequences have reached the social debate about the data-governance of the public sector. With recent data scandals in the Netherlands in municipalities, the research sets out to discover why and how differences in data handling of municipalities are to be declared. This research focusses specifically on one government level in the Netherlands, its municipalities. An overall hierarchical data-readiness framework is made based on available data-readiness frameworks consisting of four characteristics; organisational alignment, organisational maturity, organisational capabilities and ethical considerations. The framework is applied by means of a survey and send to different Dutch municipalities. We find that the frameworks hierarchy works and that with the framework the differences between the municipalities become more apparentShow less
Steeds meer gemeenten maken gebruik van datadashboards en dat brengt naast veel voordelen ook uitdagingen met zich mee. Fundamenteel aan deze uitdagingen is het verantwoordingsvraagstuk omtrent het...Show moreSteeds meer gemeenten maken gebruik van datadashboards en dat brengt naast veel voordelen ook uitdagingen met zich mee. Fundamenteel aan deze uitdagingen is het verantwoordingsvraagstuk omtrent het beheer van de data. Het doel van dit onderzoek is daarom om meer inzicht te krijgen in de gevolgen die het beheren van de dashboards heeft op het verantwoordelijk handelen van de beheerders uit de ambtelijke organisatie. Deze studie beantwoordt daarmee de centrale vraag: Hoe en in hoeverre beïnvloedt dataficatie de verantwoordelijkheidspraktijken van Haagse gemeentelijke professionals? In deze kwalitatieve casestudie studie van het dashboard Den Haag in Cijfers worden de dimensies van verantwoordelijkheid volgens het Global Accountability Framework (Blagescu et al., 2005) gecombineerd met de principes van Neff et al. (2017) om de concrete zorgen helder te stellen omtrent de verantwoordelijkheid van het databeheer. Er is met drie beheerders van het datadashboard gesproken en er is daarnaast een documentanalyse gedaan van onder andere de visie op digitalisering van de gemeente. Actieve communicatie over alle bewerkingen op de data ontbreekt bij het dashboard Den Haag in Cijfers, waardoor transparantie van alle data tekortschiet. Daarnaast bestaat er een betrekkelijk grote focus op het eindproduct van de dataverzameling, waardoor van externe participatie weinig sprake is en ook goede procesevaluatie lastig is. Dit wordt echter in zekere mate gecompenseerd door een verantwoordelijke cultuur van feedback en leren. De documentanalyse toont aan dat de eerste stappen wel al zijn gezet om de problemen omtrent transparantie, participatie en evaluatie op te lossen. Datatoepassingen hebben een weerbarstige praktijk en daarom is een meer verantwoordelijke manier van omgaan met data geboden, dit onderzoek biedt daar aanknopingspunten voor.Show less
This thesis sets itself within this broader theoretical debate of discussing the relationship between capitalism and democracy. It investigates how capitalism has been able to gain unrivaled power...Show moreThis thesis sets itself within this broader theoretical debate of discussing the relationship between capitalism and democracy. It investigates how capitalism has been able to gain unrivaled power within the global political economy, particularly over democracy, through further developing the separation between what is determined as the 'political' and the 'economic'. Furthermore, it concentrates on the implications of the significant structural changes caused by capitalism and its role in shaping the digitalization of our societies. In the process, the paper analyzes Shoshanna Zuboff's understanding of surveillance capitalism because it is the needed contemporary analytical assessment of how big tech and its surveillance operations produce various adverse outcomes in the global political economy. It primarily focuses on how surveillance capitalists utilize the ideology and mechanisms of capitalism while undermining democracy and increasing epistemological and material inequalities. In its many forms, surveillance capitalism undermines democracy and human rights and creates unequal power structures within our societies. These adverse developments are possible because of the specific historical conditions that allowed surveillance capitalism to thrive and become normative behavior. Existing political and economic structures enabled surveillance capitalists like Google, Facebook, and Amazon to become dominant hegemonic forces in the global political economy. These corporations undemocratically extract data from individuals' lives by coercing users to accept their terms and conditions, which can take days to fully understand the implications on their human rights, privacy, and freedoms (Zuboff, 2019). Surveillance capitalists then capitalize on their data by selling it for profit, using it to improve their services, or utilizing it to predict and manipulate future behavior in collaboration with other market actors (Zuboff, 2019). This represents the commodification of human behavior, personal information and digital social interactions. How actors like Google have been able to extract, commodify (or profit from) and manipulate individuals' behavior has severe implications for the individual human rights and foundational principles and values of democracy. All of this depicts a pattern of subordinating human behavior to the logic of capitalist markets for profit while putting at risk the freedom, autonomy, and self-determination of citizens in the market, politics, and everyday life. Democratic countries have enabled and undermined Google and other corporations that create unequal power structures and succeed in exploiting citizens. This thesis identifies and analyses how the United States and Germany have attempted to address Google's intrusive big data operations. Particularly, it focuses on how they have both undermined and protected democracy by addressing surveillance capitalism and its adverse outcomes.Show less
The Digital Age, or the Age of Information, has made university presses and their mission to produce top quality scholarship more important than ever before. Knowledge is at everyone’s fingertips,...Show moreThe Digital Age, or the Age of Information, has made university presses and their mission to produce top quality scholarship more important than ever before. Knowledge is at everyone’s fingertips, it is as easy as pressing a few buttons on your computer, but this ease is not unilaterally aligned with reliability. This is why university content is becoming increasingly more vital. However, limited budgets, changing markets, and a reluctance to embrace digital technologies have resulted in many university presses struggling to stay in operation. The monograph in particular is struggling to turn profits and is beginning to be viewed by portions of the academic community as outdated and a monetary burden for universities. This thesis looks at how university press monographs can survive in this changing climate, in particular by employing digital marketing strategies. It examines three major developing areas of digital marketing (big data, social media use by the press and social media use by the author). It draws on UP case studies to illustrate digital marketing engagement.Show less
This thesis examines how the humanitarian sector is integrating various data technologies into its work. Innovation offers enormous opportunities for the sector, yet also brings with it new risks....Show moreThis thesis examines how the humanitarian sector is integrating various data technologies into its work. Innovation offers enormous opportunities for the sector, yet also brings with it new risks. Technological innovation is, and will in the foreseeable future continue to be, inextricably linked to partnering with the private sector. This fits in a larger pattern where private sector involvement is becoming increasingly important in humanitarian aid. In this process, private sector norms are increasingly adopted for governing precarity. The research examines the mode of deployment of technologies through a case study of the WFP in Yemen. The Houthi faction’s refusal to accept biometric identity systems there led to a temporary partial suspension of food aid. This deployment is considered through the framework of the humanitarian principles, and finds that the WFP is jeopardizing both the lives of the most vulnerable people and the sector’s sustained access to conflict and disasters. These findings are interpreted through a theoretical framework, focusing on the marketization of multilateralism in the time of surveillance capitalism. The research establishes a technodeterminist reliance on data, represented as neutral reflections of complex realities. The belief in the abilities and necessity of these technologies to maximize impact and efficiency comes as the cost of agency, privacy, and sovereignty. This thesis ultimately argues for recentering humanitarian action and innovation on the humanitarian principles, in order to maintain the legitimate authority of the sector and to safeguard the wellbeing of its beneficiaries.Show less
With the abundance of data and more sophisticated analytical capabilities, big data is receiving increasing attention in international relations research. This thesis intends to explore the...Show moreWith the abundance of data and more sophisticated analytical capabilities, big data is receiving increasing attention in international relations research. This thesis intends to explore the relevance of real-time big data analysis in violent conflict prediction and prevention by examining the state of the art of big-data based social science research, assessing the value of open data and elaborating on the question of access and the interests of stakeholders in data-sharing across sectors. Finally, three data sharing models will be visualised and the privacy vs. security dichotomy will be addressed.Show less
The thesis discusses the velar graphemes in Hittite, commonly transliterated as KA, GA and QA. It is normally assumed that these graphemes can be used interchangeably. However, it is argued that...Show moreThe thesis discusses the velar graphemes in Hittite, commonly transliterated as KA, GA and QA. It is normally assumed that these graphemes can be used interchangeably. However, it is argued that this is clearly not the case. The thesis then tries to show in which environments the different graphemes are used and how the use can be motivated phonologically.Show less
