Making data markets

Assetization, valuation, and proxy work in a digital health start-up

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7474415
AutoresJoseph Donia (0000-0001-5834-8198, University of Toronto, autor correspondente), Jennifer Gibson (0000-0001-5761-0297, University of Toronto), James A Shaw, James Shaw (0000-0002-9522-0756, University of Toronto)
Ano2026
Volume56
Fascículo1
Páginas75-95
Data de publicação2026-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Studies of Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659
EditoraSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/03063127251353027
PMID40635358
OpenAlexW4412141962
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas60

Digital data are increasingly framed as essential resources in health and medicine, implicating diverse actors who work to transform them into different forms of value. In this article we focus on the diverse and contingent valuation practices that shaped an artificial intelligence-enabled ‘smart’ health technology and the data it generated at different moments in time, and the corresponding asset forms that were envisioned, developed, tested, and marketed. We also outline the role of assetization as a contested but essential design and marketing activity, and introduce the notion of proxy work as an intermediary between data generation and assetization, where people, infrastructures, and other material devices are arranged in such a way that data become capable of ‘standing in’ for something else, allowing accountable forms of value to be realized across multiple sites. We conclude with a discussion of the consequences of assetization as a dominant lens through which governments, firms, and other actors increasingly understand the value of digital health data, and the different health-related futures those practices make possible

Business · Data science · Economics · Environmental economics · Proxy (statistics · Public economics · Sociology · Valuation (finance · Work (physics · Community Development and Social Impact · Computer Science · Engineering · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Private Equity and Venture Capital · Finance