Bodies of data: doubles,composites, and aggregates

In this essay, I describe three bodies of data, analysing how relations are drawn between physical, digital, and political composites. Following the phrase ‘getting to know your data self’, my aim is to draw out the kinds of relations people use data to make, and the versions of the body that I find codified in data imaginaries. Thematically, the stories give different accounts of control over data, as the data body is doubled, built out of composites, and aggregated into a body politic.