How We Became Our Data

"Brilliant. Urgent. Essential. Koopman's study of the genealogy of our future-present selves, and how we became these informational artifacts, is crucial to developing new critical knowledges for politics, for aesthetics, and for life."--Davide Panagia, author of The Political Life of Sensation "Koopman explores the history of data tracking technology, detailing the emergence of mass-scale recording systems and techniques for categorising personality traits, measuring intelligence and 'radicalizing' subjects. These early developments contributed to the creation of the 'informational person' who is today subject to 'informational power', he says."-- "Survival" "Of all the critical accounts of our becoming subjects of and to data, Koopman's is the most unsettling--which is to say, the most necessary. We simply cannot understand the crisis of the present without the two inextricable stories presented in this book: how the concept of information emerges as the necessary precondition for the 'information society' and how our lives have become almost unthinkable without the sociotechnical apparatus of documents. That this is ultimately an affirmative and even mobilizing tale, instead of a paralyzing horror, is a credit to Koopman's narrative skill and meticulous scholarship."--Rita Raley, author of Tactical Media "Drawing from Foucault - both methodologically and conceptually - Koopman advances . . . original claims that have the ambition to transform some of the most deeply rooted assumptions in the field of data politics. . . . Koopman's book is a rigorous, original, and timely contribution to contemporary political theory."--Daniele Lorenzini "Contemporary Political Theory" "When did we become our data? Bridging research concerning informatics qua intelligence testing with the bureaucratization of paperwork vis-a-vis the universalization of standardized birth certificate forms, Koopman traces an arachnean genealogy that weaves together the datafication of birth, personality, and race. . . . Koopman's genealogical approach to algorithmic data qua public health and knowledge practices demonstrates that 'surface politics' such as human welfare projects and official policies are, in fact, brimming with politically dormant exigencies."-- "Theory & Event" "The book is extremely readable, so much so that any undergraduate can grasp its main points and digest its evidence. The book is essential for those of us who practice genealogy and those of us who study Foucault's work, but it should be very useful for less specialized readers. It provides a timely and very important perspective on contemporary society, one that may become especially significant as we develop the tracking tools necessary to stem the current coronavirus pandemic. Koopman has my gratitude for this important piece of work."-- "Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews" "Koopman examines data collection, as well as the human adoption of such data to represent individual identity, in order to make such practices visible before data becomes our second nature. . . . Koopman's analysis reaches a crescendo when the story turns to personal data's implications. He invites us to think about the thousands of boxes we've ticked over our lifetimes, beside which are written the conventional words of racial taxonomy. The data collected from these boxes is used to build correlations, supporting all manner of political and economic programs."-- "Public Books" "How We Became Our Data looks at the design and uptake of three information formats in the United States between 1913 and 1937: birth certificates, personality tests, and real estate appraisal templates...a welcome provocation to think historically and politically about the problems we face as 'informational persons.' Koopman's concept of 'infopower' provides a way of talking about the con-sequences of the desig

Colin Koopman is associate professor of philosophy and director of the New Media & Culture Program at the University of Oregon.