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Data, interface, security: assembling technologies that govern the future

Data, interface, security: assembling technologies that govern the future
Data, interface, security: assembling technologies that govern the future
Over the last decade, fire governance practices in the British Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) have undergone fundamental transformation. Rather than just being responded to as and when they occur, the FRS have adopted a range of anticipatory governing strategies to govern fires in anticipation of their occurence. This turn towards anticipatory governance has been facilitated in no small part by the digital infrastructure now embedded in the FRS. Composed of data, hardware, software, fibre-optic cables along with human analysts and organisational processes, this infrastructure operates to make risk projections on fire which shape and condition strategic decision making. This paper explores the operation of this digital infrastructure through the notion of interface. Drawing on empirical material relating to processes of data sourcing and risk calculation, interfaces account for the sites, moments and experiences in which human and non-human agents relate to one another in making fire risk projections. Showing relations to exist spatially, temporally and sensually, I argue that interfaces are crucial to the operation of an anticipatory security apparatus which relies on digital devices
0016-7185
1-9
O'Grady, Nathaniel
10d54575-aaf3-4efb-acec-907df5c62be2
O'Grady, Nathaniel
10d54575-aaf3-4efb-acec-907df5c62be2

O'Grady, Nathaniel (2015) Data, interface, security: assembling technologies that govern the future. Geoforum, 64, 1-9. (doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.06.015).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Over the last decade, fire governance practices in the British Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) have undergone fundamental transformation. Rather than just being responded to as and when they occur, the FRS have adopted a range of anticipatory governing strategies to govern fires in anticipation of their occurence. This turn towards anticipatory governance has been facilitated in no small part by the digital infrastructure now embedded in the FRS. Composed of data, hardware, software, fibre-optic cables along with human analysts and organisational processes, this infrastructure operates to make risk projections on fire which shape and condition strategic decision making. This paper explores the operation of this digital infrastructure through the notion of interface. Drawing on empirical material relating to processes of data sourcing and risk calculation, interfaces account for the sites, moments and experiences in which human and non-human agents relate to one another in making fire risk projections. Showing relations to exist spatially, temporally and sensually, I argue that interfaces are crucial to the operation of an anticipatory security apparatus which relies on digital devices

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Accepted/In Press date: 18 June 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: June 2015
Organisations: Economy, Society and Space

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Local EPrints ID: 378198
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/378198
ISSN: 0016-7185
PURE UUID: dadc25b6-2281-4966-87d1-038d16609053

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Date deposited: 25 Jun 2015 12:59
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:18

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Author: Nathaniel O'Grady

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