Hacking big data into knowledge - Experts, data and, material practices in hackathon-events

Civic hacking and hackathon events have emerged as a prominent theme in how big data is used to produce new data-driven and technological solutions. As forms of open innovation, they invite data-analysts, programmers, and technologists to suggest solutions to grand societal challenges such as climate change, urban decay, and inequality, or to tap into creative ways of using new technology. As data and algorithms play an increasing role in our societies, the practices that utilize and develop them increasingly influence the direction of our future.
Indeed, to understand the ramifications of this issue we must ask how experts are working with data, and how their practices influence the solutions they produce and futures they promote. My research analyses civic hacking and hackathon events as tools of data-driven knowledge creation, exploring how mundane expert practices unfold and define what ends up being innovated in the first place. These innovations have far-reaching societal impact because they promote specific ideas about society, technological progress, and future trajectories, defining what we deem as feasible and preferable. To understand our technological and data-driven futures, we must understand where these ideas come from, how they are deployed, and how our current ideas of data and data-practices affect the futures we are crafting.