Big Data

“Big data” are datasets so large that they cannot be analyzed without resorting to data processing software. The definition refers to the volume, variety, and velocity of data generation, as well as to the value their analysis can generate. The datafied society—characterized by the centrality of data generation and processing—has radically changed the informational and technological ecosystem in which interest groups operate. It has expanded their action repertoire to include open data, social media data, citizen sensing, and data journalism. Open government data are made freely available by public administrations for everyone to use. For interest groups, they represent an unprecedented opportunity to gain access to first-hand information about the public sector to craft lobbying and campaigning. Social media platforms offer access to large quantities of data that allow interest groups to better understand and more efficiently target their publics. Citizen sensing involves laypeople in the generation of crowdsourced data, often by means of digital sensors.
In the hands of interest groups, it helps to generate evidence while involving affected subjects into the process, expanding the remit of advocacy efforts, and contributes to problemsolving by offering novel interpretations of a problem. Data journalism allows interest groups to make sense of large swaths of data in view of transforming complex information into a story that is digestible by and appeals to large audiences, thus supporting advocacy or lobbying efforts. But leveraging the possibilities offered by the datafied society for lobbying and campaigning is not without risks. Three main challenges can be identified: surveillance which has potential chilling effects on political discourse; the uneven reliability of citizen-generated data; and institutional resistance of the state to the citizen demand for greater transparency.