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Paper short abstract

Using examples drawn from population census protests, technical specifications of personal identification numbers, and software for electronic identification platforms, I argue that analyses of symbolic representations help us understand the politics of technical representation in digital systems.

Paper long abstract

In this talk I analyse three technical representations of humans as aggregates and as individuals—the population (aggregate life), the identification number (comparable individuals), and the online profile (individuals rich in distinctions)—using perspectives from STS, political theory, and the history of statistics.

In STS literature, the concept of representation features in discussions of performativity and enactment, especially in connection to the question of whether a sign represents an a priori existing object or if it brings the object into existence. In The Politics of Large Numbers (1998), Desrosières identifies a similar configuration when he argues how statistics stabilises things so that they may be changed, and changes things so that they may be stabilised. Representation is also a key concept for political theorists who generally assume that it describes a relation where humans represent humans but do deal with instances of symbolic representation (e.g. the flag representing the nation) which involve non-human entities.

Using examples drawn from population census protests, technical specifications of personal identification numbers, and the software that animates electronic identification platforms, I show how these constructs create equivalences and draw distinctions along the same lines, but stabilise different social facts at different scales. I conclude with how the concept of symbolic representation helps us understand the politics of technical representation in digital systems.