From computing clerks to androids: two bits on the material lives of social data in India

The social and material conditions of data collection have a significant bearing on how we think about and understand data. Sandeep Mertia looks at the history of data collection in India and how the conditions have changed over time. From the work of the eminent statistician and founder of the Indian Statistical Institute, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, to the now large scale surveys conducted through tablets and Android apps, various mechanisms have shaped the material lives of survey data.