Data is too big to be left to the data analysts. Data: Now Bigger and Better! brings together researchers whose work is deeply informed by the conceptual frameworks of anthropology—frameworks that are comparative as well as field-based. From kinship to gifts, everything old becomes rich with new insight when the anthropological archive washes over “big data.” Bringing together anthropology’s classic debates and contemporary interventions, the book counters the future-oriented speculation so characteristic of discussions regarding big data. Drawing on the long-standing experience in industry contexts, the contributors also provide analytical provocations that can help reframe some of the most important shifts in technology and society in the first half of the twenty-first century.

Tom Boellstorff is professor of anthropology and Bill Maurer is dean of social sciences and professor of anthropology and law, both at the University of California, Irvine, where Nick Seaver is a PhD candidate in anthropology. Genevieve Bell is an anthropologist and director of the User Experience Research group at Intel Labs, where Melissa Gregg is principal engineer.