{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T06:17:58Z","timestamp":1777616278880,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,1]],"date-time":"2016-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1464739200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Recently, there has been renewed interest in so-called evidence-based policy making. Enticed by the grand promises of Big Data, public officials seem increasingly inclined to experiment with more data-driven forms of governance. But while the rise of Big Data and related consequences has been a major issue of concern across different disciplines, attempts to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon's historical foundations have been rare. This short commentary addresses this gap by situating the current push for numerical evidence within a broader socio-political context, demonstrating how the epistemological claims of Big Data science intersect with specific forms of trust, truth, and objectivity. We conclude by arguing that regulators' faith in numbers can be attributed to a distinct political culture, a representative democracy undermined by pervasive public distrust and uncertainty.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951716649398","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,20]],"date-time":"2016-06-20T22:24:54Z","timestamp":1466461494000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":68,"title":["Datatrust: Or, the political quest for numerical evidence and the epistemologies of Big Data"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"3","author":[{"given":"Gernot","family":"Rieder","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"University of Vienna, Austria"}]},{"given":"Judith","family":"Simon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark"},{"name":"University of Vienna, Austria"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/sub.2009.18"},{"key":"bibr2-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Anderson C (2009) The end of theory: The big data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete.\n                      Wired\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/www.wired.com\/2008\/06\/pb-theory\/ (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr4-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2043820613514323"},{"key":"bibr115-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Barnes TJ and Wilson MW (2014) Big Data, social physics, and spatial analysis: The early years.\n                      Big Data & Society\n                      1(1): 1\u201314.","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714535365"},{"key":"bibr3-2053951716649398","volume":"2016","author":"Barocas S","year":"2015","journal-title":"California Law Review"},{"key":"bibr5-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2012.678878"},{"key":"bibr6-2053951716649398","author":"Brooks D","year":"2013","journal-title":"New York Times"},{"key":"bibr7-2053951716649398","volume-title":"Triumph of Numbers: How Counting Shaped Modern Life","author":"Cohen BI","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr8-2053951716649398","volume-title":"Objectivity","author":"Daston L","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr9-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2928741"},{"key":"bibr10-2053951716649398","volume-title":"The Politics of Large Numbers. A History of Statistical Reasoning","author":"Desrosi\u00e8res A","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr11-2053951716649398","volume-title":"The Condor Years: How Pinochet and his Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents","author":"Dingens J","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr17-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2012)\n                      From Crisis of Trust to Open Governing\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/europa.eu\/rapid\/press-release_SPEECH-12-149_en.htm (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr16-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2013)\n                      EU Leaders Call for Action on Digital Economy, Innovation and Services\n                      . Avaialble at: http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/newsroom\/dae\/document.cfm?doc_id=3369 (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr14-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2014a)\n                      The Data Gold Rush\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/europa.eu\/rapid\/press-release_SPEECH-14-229_en.htm (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr15-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2014b)\n                      Towards a Thriving Data-Driven Economy\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/information_society\/newsroom\/cf\/dae\/document.cfm?doc_id=6210 (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr12-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2015a)\n                      Data for Policy: When the Haystack Is Made of Needles. A Call for Contributions\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/digital-agenda\/en\/news\/data-policy-when-haystack-made-needles-call-contributions (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr13-2053951716649398","unstructured":"European Commission (EC) (2015b)\n                      Making Big Data Work for Europe\n                      . Available at: https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/digital-agenda\/en\/big-data (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr18-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Executive Office of the President (EOP) (2014)\n                      Big Data: Seizing Opportunities, Preserving Values\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/docs\/big_data_privacy_report_5.1.14_final_print.pdf (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr19-2053951716649398","volume-title":"The Consequences of Modernity","author":"Giddens A","year":"1990"},{"key":"bibr20-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9302.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr21-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Grandin G (2014) The anti-socialist origins of big data.\n                      The Nation\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/anti-socialist-origins-big-data\/ (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr22-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.5771\/9780815725701","volume-title":"Show Me the Evidence: Obama\u2019s Fight for Rigor and Results in Social Policy","author":"Haskins R","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr23-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11024-009-9124-4"},{"key":"bibr24-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Kalil T and Zhao F (2013) Unleashing the Power of Big Data.\n                      The White House Blog\n                      . Available at: https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/blog\/2013\/04\/18\/unleashing-power-big-data (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr124-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714528481"},{"key":"bibr25-2053951716649398","volume-title":"The Data Revolution. Big Data, Open Data, Data Infrastructures & Their Limitations","author":"Kitchin R","year":"2014"},{"key":"bibr26-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Laney D (2001) 3D management: Controlling data volume, velocity and variety. Available at: http:\/\/blogs.gartner.com\/doug-laney\/files\/2012\/01\/ad949-3D-Data-Management-Controlling-Data-Volume-Velocity-and-Variety.pdf (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr27-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951714534395"},{"key":"bibr28-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/sub.2013.12"},{"key":"bibr29-2053951716649398","volume-title":"Big Data. 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National Academy of Sciences. Available at: https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/omb\/inforeg\/speeches\/regulation-in-an-uncertain-world-06202012.pdf (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"key":"bibr141-2053951716649398","unstructured":"Urahn SK (2015) A tipping point on evidence-based policymaking.\n                      Governing\n                      . Available at: http:\/\/www.governing.com\/columns\/smart-mgmt\/col-state-local-government-tipping-point-evidence-based-policymaking.html (accessed 2 May 2016)."},{"issue":"1","key":"bibr42-2053951716649398","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/2196-1115-1-1","volume":"1","author":"Venturini T","year":"2014","journal-title":"Big Data & Society"}],"container-title":["Big Data &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951716649398","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/2053951716649398","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/2053951716649398","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,28]],"date-time":"2026-04-28T13:02:01Z","timestamp":1777381321000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/2053951716649398"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]},"references-count":43,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,6,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/2053951716649398"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/2053951716649398","relation":{},"ISSN":["2053-9517","2053-9517"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2053-9517","type":"print"},{"value":"2053-9517","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,6]]},"article-number":"2053951716649398"}}