Manifestations of a Sound Wave: Establishing Human-Data Relations from a Data-Centred Perspective

In this provocation, we propose a view that data is relational and that data-human relations can be uncovered through a data-centred (as opposed to human-centred) perspective. The background for this is the increasing digitisation where many digital systems involve a number of different stakeholders who handle different versions of data for different purposes under varying standards. Such systems can represent data in many ways, each emphasising certain aspects of the world and calling for specific actions. Furthermore, data accessibility and version control can vary between platforms and stakeholders. While human-centred approaches to designing these systems can shed light on aspects such as user experience or opportunities for supporting human-human collaboration, this ultimately excludes the perspective of the real-world "thing" represented as data. As such, it is critical to identify approaches to establish and design for data-human relations. We illustrate this point through a narrative in four fragments. The narrative is told from the perspective of a sound wave that discusses relations to stakeholders established throughout its existence. We conclude with reflections on the nature of these relations and how data as material for design is characterised through those.