Salmon, sensors, and translation

The agency of Big Data in environmental governance

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4744597
AutoresFrancisco Ascui (0000-0001-6036-3987, University of Edinburgh, UK; University of Tasmania, Australia, autor de correspondencia), Marcus Haward (0000-0003-4775-0864, University of Tasmania), Heather Lovell (0000-0003-1164-0356, University of Tasmania)
Año2018
Volumen36
Número5
Páginas905-925
Fecha de publicación2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaEnvironment and Planning D Society and Space (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0263-7758 • E-ISSN: 1472-3433
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0263775818766892
OpenAlexW2796206667
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas18
Referencias citadas30

This paper explores the emerging role of Big Data in environmental governance. We focus on the case of salmon aquaculture management from 2011 to 2017 in Macquarie Harbour, Australia, and compare this with the foundational case that inspired the development of the concept of 'translation' in actor-network theory, that of scallop domestication in St Brieuc Bay, France, in the 1970s. A key difference is the salience of environmental data in the contemporary case. Recent dramatic events in the environmental governance of Macquarie Harbour have been driven by increasing spatial and temporal resolution of environmental monitoring, including real-time data collection from sensors mounted on the fish themselves. The resulting environmental data now takes centre stage in increasingly heated debates over how the harbour should be managed: overturning long-held assumptions about environmental interactions, inducing changes in regulatory practices and institutions, fracturing historical alliances and shaping the on-going legitimacy of the industry. Environmental Big Data is now a key actor within the networks that constitute and enact environmental governance. Given its new and unpredictable agency, control over access to data is likely to become critical in future power struggles over environmental resources and their governance

Agency (philosophy · Big data · Business · Corporate governance · Economics · Environmental governance · Environmental planning · Environmental resource management · Geography · Governmentality · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Salience (neuroscience · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Information Systems Theories and Implementation