Child data citizen: Interview with Dr. Veronica Barassi (originally aired Dec. 20, 2021)

We all know that the global data economy relies on the ongoing collection, exchange and use of massive amounts of our data – from personal information, to what we do online, to algorithmic forecasts about what we might to do in the future. But what about children’s data? Although there are special laws in place to protect children’s privacy in many regions around the world, huge amounts of their data are still being collected by a growing of devices and applications. In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes chats with Dr. Veronica Barassi, Professor in Media and Communication Studies at the University of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, about her research and theories of how childhood itself is being transformed by the production and manipulation of personally identifying digital data. The discussion is focused on key arguments and findings found in Dr. Barassi’s new book, Child Data Citizen: How Tech Companies Are Profiling Us from Before Birth, which outlines key trends contributing to a “datafication” of children and the troubling implications this has for their rights and futures.Type of research discussed in today’s episode: anthropology; ethnography; digital ethnography; communication studies; civic rights and democracy studies.Keywords for today’s episode: data citizen; datafication; data flows; data economies; big data; digital participation; democracy; consent; data justice.