Signe Sophus Lai
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 354371 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Signe Sophus Lai |
| PRENOMES | Signe Sophus |
| SOBRENOME | Lai |
| ASSINATURA | LAI S S |
| AFILIAÇÕES | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7903-7994 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 20 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 24 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 20 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2017 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Currents of control
The article examines global submarine data cable projects from 1989 to 2028 (N=804) to explore the evolving political economy of digital media and communication infrastructures. Focusing on the growing number of new cable projects and their ownership, we identify several phases of network expansion, which correspond with different types of market dominance and ownership constellations. In the early phases of submarine cable buildout, the main mar…
Auditing the Closed Ios Ecosystem
Scholarly attention is increasingly paid to the dynamic and embedded ways in which third-party tracking has become widespread in the mobile ecosystem. Much of this research has focused almost exclusively on Android applications in Google Play and their respective infrastructures of data capture, even though Apple and their App Store have a significant market share. To examine Apple’s ecosystem and to overcome the challenge of opening and inspecti…
Infrastructural dependency in the datafied welfare state
In January 2024, the Danish Data Protection Agency issued a landmark ruling, challenging the integration of Chromebook laptops in Danish public schools under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This article presents a study of the Chromebook case to explore the entanglement of commercial tech infrastructures and welfare state principles. Drawing on studies of rentiership and educational privatization, we analyze five types of lock…
Empirical approaches to infrastructures for datafication
This article introduces a special issue exploring emerging empirical approaches to studying infrastructures for datafication and their social, political, and economic implications. The merits of empirical research on infrastructures for datafication are drawn out across seven articles offering diverse methodological entry points to develop our understanding of how datafication processes operate across everyday life settings, sectors, and institut…
At the mercy of the objects, we study
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
Monitoring infrastructural power
This article discusses how we can locate and understand infrastructural power in mobile infrastructures for datafication through dissecting third-party tracking via so-called software development kits (SDKs).As key material components of mobile infrastructures, SDKs enable app functionality, security, and access to data collection and use by third-party services.However, the methods for investigating SDKs and mobile datafication in general are fr…
Datafied school life
Amid the increasing reliance on digital tools and services in education, this article examines the datafication and commodification of student life in Denmark. We analyse the web and app (iOS and Android) versions of 45 tools and services that teachers in Danish public primary schools use as part of their teaching, the types of data generated by them, and the market actors harvesting and distributing the user data. The analysis finds that the web…
Follow the Data! A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power
Recalling the well-known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and business models of legacy media, this article argues that studies of digital political economies can benefit instead from following the data. Combining perspectives from critical data studies and infrastructure research, we first discuss how direct money flows can be difficult to trace in digital ecosystems, creating a need for altern…
A good way to talk. A comparative analysis of communication choices in China, Denmark and the US
The article presents a comparative analysis of how people manage ways of communicating with their social ties. It thereby makes a qualitative contribution to the social ties literature [Granovetter, 1973 Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. https://doi.org/10.1086/225469[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6…
Datafied mobile markets
The increasing use of mobile applications (apps) has turned data harvesting, mining, and distribution into commercial as well as functional backbones of mobile communication. Acknowledging that contemporary markets for mobile communication are increasingly datafied, this article maps and discusses how infrastructures for mobile datafication are controlled. It combines perspectives from critical data studies, political economy of communication, an…
She’s the communication expert”
This article discusses the many distinct conceptions of labor at play in the digital media and communication literature. Joining recent studies, it critiques the scarcity of research on the gendered dimension of digital labor and suggests communication as a missing link to understanding the role of everyday interactions in the digital economy. In doing so, it specifies relational communication as a particularly important but also under-researched…
A Division of Labor
In recent years, large-scale analysis of log data from digital devices - often termed ""big data analysis"" (Lazer, Kennedy, King, & Vespignani, 2014) - have taken hold in the field of internet research. Through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and commercial measurement, scholars have been able to analyze social media users (Freelon 2014) and web audiences (Taneja, 2016) on an uprecedented scale. And by developing digital research tools…
A proxy for privacy uncovering the surveillance ecology of mobile apps
The article develops a methodological and empirical approach for gauging the ways Big Data can be collected and distributed through mobile apps. This approach focuses on the infrastructural components that condition the disclosure of smartphone users’ data – namely the permissions that apps request and the third-party corporations they work with. We explore the surveillance ecology of mobile apps and thereby the privacy implications of everyday s…
Shani Orgad , Heading Home. Motherhood, Work, and the Failed Promise of Equality
Networks of power. Analysing the evolution of the Danish internet infrastructure
This article studies the evolution of the internet infrastructure and assesses emerging digital power structures and regulatory dynamics. We revisit and develop Thomas P. Hughes’ momentum theory (1994) and contend that the internet, as other large technological systems, has evolved in different phases reflecting a shift from being mainly influenced by socio-economic conditions to having a determining influence on the development of societal struc…
Infrastructures of tracking
Today, websites operate in a modular fashion, outsourcing the surveillance and datafication of users to outside companies, along with security functions, video hosting, and so on. These third-party services (TPSs) function as key enablers of the web, with respect to functionality and the monetization of user activity. Departing from critical data studies and media systems analysis, the article contributes to understanding TPS infrastructures by p…
Appscapes in everyday life
It has long been acknowledged that the use of ‘free’ mobile apps comes at a price, but few empirical studies have looked into this supposed trade-off. This article combines qualitative interviews with mappings of infrastructures for datafication in order to study the implications of mobile app usage from the perspective of individual users. It analyses users’ understanding of online tracking, maps the infrastructural tenets of mobile datafication…
Mapping digital communication systems
This article presents a framework for mapping digital communication systems and thereby analyzing how and why structural conditions differ across national contexts. Following the ‘turn to infrastructure’ in Internet studies, we conceptualize communication systems as made of infrastructural, market, and policy structures that enable and constrain mediated communication in a given society. As opposed to media system analyses that typically focus on…
Transnational European Television Drama
Travelling or not? A content analysis mapping Danish television drama from 2005 to 2014
The article presents a quantitative content analysis of the first episode of the 32 Danish drama series produced between 2005 and 2014. Some of these, such as Borgen (2010-2013) and Forbrydelsen (The Killing) (2007-2012), have experienced unprecedented, international success. The article shows that there are systematic differences in terms of formal characteristics, themes and characters' communicative style between the series that travel and tho…
Mapping digital communication systems
This article presents a framework for mapping digital communication systems and thereby analyzing how and why structural conditions differ across national contexts. Following the ‘turn to infrastructure’ in Internet studies, we conceptualize communication systems as made of infrastructural, market, and policy structures that enable and constrain mediated communication in a given society. As opposed to media system analyses that typically focus on…
Datafied mobile markets
The increasing use of mobile applications (apps) has turned data harvesting, mining, and distribution into commercial as well as functional backbones of mobile communication. Acknowledging that contemporary markets for mobile communication are increasingly datafied, this article maps and discusses how infrastructures for mobile datafication are controlled. It combines perspectives from critical data studies, political economy of communication, an…
She’s the communication expert”
This article discusses the many distinct conceptions of labor at play in the digital media and communication literature. Joining recent studies, it critiques the scarcity of research on the gendered dimension of digital labor and suggests communication as a missing link to understanding the role of everyday interactions in the digital economy. In doing so, it specifies relational communication as a particularly important but also under-researched…
At the mercy of the objects, we study
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
Infrastructures of tracking
Today, websites operate in a modular fashion, outsourcing the surveillance and datafication of users to outside companies, along with security functions, video hosting, and so on. These third-party services (TPSs) function as key enablers of the web, with respect to functionality and the monetization of user activity. Departing from critical data studies and media systems analysis, the article contributes to understanding TPS infrastructures by p…
Networks of power. Analysing the evolution of the Danish internet infrastructure
This article studies the evolution of the internet infrastructure and assesses emerging digital power structures and regulatory dynamics. We revisit and develop Thomas P. Hughes’ momentum theory (1994) and contend that the internet, as other large technological systems, has evolved in different phases reflecting a shift from being mainly influenced by socio-economic conditions to having a determining influence on the development of societal struc…
Transnational European Television Drama
Travelling or not? A content analysis mapping Danish television drama from 2005 to 2014
The article presents a quantitative content analysis of the first episode of the 32 Danish drama series produced between 2005 and 2014. Some of these, such as Borgen (2010-2013) and Forbrydelsen (The Killing) (2007-2012), have experienced unprecedented, international success. The article shows that there are systematic differences in terms of formal characteristics, themes and characters' communicative style between the series that travel and tho…
Mapping digital communication systems
This article presents a framework for mapping digital communication systems and thereby analyzing how and why structural conditions differ across national contexts. Following the ‘turn to infrastructure’ in Internet studies, we conceptualize communication systems as made of infrastructural, market, and policy structures that enable and constrain mediated communication in a given society. As opposed to media system analyses that typically focus on…
A Division of Labor
In recent years, large-scale analysis of log data from digital devices - often termed ""big data analysis"" (Lazer, Kennedy, King, & Vespignani, 2014) - have taken hold in the field of internet research. Through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and commercial measurement, scholars have been able to analyze social media users (Freelon 2014) and web audiences (Taneja, 2016) on an uprecedented scale. And by developing digital research tools…
A proxy for privacy uncovering the surveillance ecology of mobile apps
The article develops a methodological and empirical approach for gauging the ways Big Data can be collected and distributed through mobile apps. This approach focuses on the infrastructural components that condition the disclosure of smartphone users’ data – namely the permissions that apps request and the third-party corporations they work with. We explore the surveillance ecology of mobile apps and thereby the privacy implications of everyday s…
Shani Orgad , Heading Home. Motherhood, Work, and the Failed Promise of Equality
Networks of power. Analysing the evolution of the Danish internet infrastructure
This article studies the evolution of the internet infrastructure and assesses emerging digital power structures and regulatory dynamics. We revisit and develop Thomas P. Hughes’ momentum theory (1994) and contend that the internet, as other large technological systems, has evolved in different phases reflecting a shift from being mainly influenced by socio-economic conditions to having a determining influence on the development of societal struc…
Infrastructures of tracking
Today, websites operate in a modular fashion, outsourcing the surveillance and datafication of users to outside companies, along with security functions, video hosting, and so on. These third-party services (TPSs) function as key enablers of the web, with respect to functionality and the monetization of user activity. Departing from critical data studies and media systems analysis, the article contributes to understanding TPS infrastructures by p…
Appscapes in everyday life
It has long been acknowledged that the use of ‘free’ mobile apps comes at a price, but few empirical studies have looked into this supposed trade-off. This article combines qualitative interviews with mappings of infrastructures for datafication in order to study the implications of mobile app usage from the perspective of individual users. It analyses users’ understanding of online tracking, maps the infrastructural tenets of mobile datafication…
Datafied mobile markets
The increasing use of mobile applications (apps) has turned data harvesting, mining, and distribution into commercial as well as functional backbones of mobile communication. Acknowledging that contemporary markets for mobile communication are increasingly datafied, this article maps and discusses how infrastructures for mobile datafication are controlled. It combines perspectives from critical data studies, political economy of communication, an…
She’s the communication expert”
This article discusses the many distinct conceptions of labor at play in the digital media and communication literature. Joining recent studies, it critiques the scarcity of research on the gendered dimension of digital labor and suggests communication as a missing link to understanding the role of everyday interactions in the digital economy. In doing so, it specifies relational communication as a particularly important but also under-researched…
A good way to talk. A comparative analysis of communication choices in China, Denmark and the US
The article presents a comparative analysis of how people manage ways of communicating with their social ties. It thereby makes a qualitative contribution to the social ties literature [Granovetter, 1973 Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. https://doi.org/10.1086/225469[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6…
Follow the Data! A Strategy for Tracing Infrastructural Power
Recalling the well-known strategy of “following the money” when investigating the underlying power structures and business models of legacy media, this article argues that studies of digital political economies can benefit instead from following the data. Combining perspectives from critical data studies and infrastructure research, we first discuss how direct money flows can be difficult to trace in digital ecosystems, creating a need for altern…
Monitoring infrastructural power
This article discusses how we can locate and understand infrastructural power in mobile infrastructures for datafication through dissecting third-party tracking via so-called software development kits (SDKs).As key material components of mobile infrastructures, SDKs enable app functionality, security, and access to data collection and use by third-party services.However, the methods for investigating SDKs and mobile datafication in general are fr…
Datafied school life
Amid the increasing reliance on digital tools and services in education, this article examines the datafication and commodification of student life in Denmark. We analyse the web and app (iOS and Android) versions of 45 tools and services that teachers in Danish public primary schools use as part of their teaching, the types of data generated by them, and the market actors harvesting and distributing the user data. The analysis finds that the web…
Auditing the Closed Ios Ecosystem
Scholarly attention is increasingly paid to the dynamic and embedded ways in which third-party tracking has become widespread in the mobile ecosystem. Much of this research has focused almost exclusively on Android applications in Google Play and their respective infrastructures of data capture, even though Apple and their App Store have a significant market share. To examine Apple’s ecosystem and to overcome the challenge of opening and inspecti…
Infrastructural dependency in the datafied welfare state
In January 2024, the Danish Data Protection Agency issued a landmark ruling, challenging the integration of Chromebook laptops in Danish public schools under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This article presents a study of the Chromebook case to explore the entanglement of commercial tech infrastructures and welfare state principles. Drawing on studies of rentiership and educational privatization, we analyze five types of lock…
Empirical approaches to infrastructures for datafication
This article introduces a special issue exploring emerging empirical approaches to studying infrastructures for datafication and their social, political, and economic implications. The merits of empirical research on infrastructures for datafication are drawn out across seven articles offering diverse methodological entry points to develop our understanding of how datafication processes operate across everyday life settings, sectors, and institut…
At the mercy of the objects, we study
This article asks how our capacities to conduct critical research on digital power are influenced by depending, empirically and methodologically, on powerful market actors controlling the underlying research infrastructure. Building on discussions at the intersection between digital methods, political economy and infrastructure studies, we zoom in on three cases of widely used commercial data tools and repositories for academic studies. Mapping o…
Currents of control
The article examines global submarine data cable projects from 1989 to 2028 (N=804) to explore the evolving political economy of digital media and communication infrastructures. Focusing on the growing number of new cable projects and their ownership, we identify several phases of network expansion, which correspond with different types of market dominance and ownership constellations. In the early phases of submarine cable buildout, the main mar…
Computer Science (13 obras) · Sociology (11 obras) · Business (7 obras) · Economics (7 obras) · Political science (7 obras) · World Wide Web (5 obras) · Internet privacy (4 obras) · Privacy, Security, and Data Protection (4 obras) · Art (3 obras) · Commodification (3 obras)