Early on in his new book on automated media, Mark Andrejevic (2020) offers an interesting perspective on the promise of…
Digital data use in schools – remembering ‘the conditions of its history’
When talking of the datafied school, we need to remain mindful of ‘the conditions of its history’ (Foucault 1963/2003, p.xxii).…
Breaking-up is hard to do… exploring the limits of school data
One of the more fanciful claims surrounding the datafication of schools is the idea that (nearly) everything can be known…
“We’re an infrastructure black hole” – the technical challenges of maintaining a school’s data resiliency
The datafication of schooling relies on schools having robust, functioning computer and data infrastructures. In our investigations of the work involved in school data,…
The behind-the-scenes work of producing school data (part 1) … Brookdale’s ‘Student Attendance’ app
The flow of data around a school relies on considerable amounts of behind-the-scenes ‘invisible’ work. Following the lead of Susan…
The importance of ‘number narratives’ in school use of data
School data is rarely the subject of sophisticated quantitative analysis by teachers. Very few staff are statistically proficient enough to…
Data infrastructures … are schools being sold short?
Even when things seem to be working smoothly on the surface, the data systems of every school are invariably in…
Is ‘my’ data good for me? A brief checklist…
In light of recent discussions of the rights and wrongs of domestic data-based technologies such as Amazon Ring, the following…
Thank God we have all this data … said no teacher ever
[Interview with Psychology teacher – Brookdale High School] “Do you know what? There’s a meme in our staffroom that’s someone’s…
Infrastructure, software and other materialisations of school data
Despite seeming like an ephemeral topic, there are various tangible aspects of ‘school data’ that we can examine. First is…
