The production of data Jan Blommaert

Fieldwork produces tons of information On the topic On our own learning trajectory Combined in the archive This information is not yet ‘data’ The transition from information to data is a monological intervention ‘the field’ no longer an interlocutor Interlocutor = your own logic

‘data’ are a theory-governed artefact NOT the fieldwork materials But fieldwork materials mediated by theory ‘re-voicing’: fieldwork materials are extracted out of the communication that generated them (voice of the informant) And ‘re-centered’ towards the voice of (your) theory Assumption: your theory now includes the viewpoint of the informant

Your theory A generalizing story That incorporates the voice of the ‘field’ Is based on initial and revised hypotheses And uses ‘data’ as illustrative of the local, situated instantiation of the general story E.g. Skolts Sami

21/4/08 > Inari Skolts Sami radio journalist has network of old ladies who advice her on language. Her own knowledge is self-reported as limited, but the radio is Skolts-only. An extreme example of a general principle: that lg resources are unevenly distributed over a community, warranting collaborative work for accomplishing complex lg tasks. Fieldnotes becoming data

So: the production of ‘data’ happens when we generalize and make abstractions On the basis of what we learned in the field & what we already knew We now know more because of fieldwork Data become ‘patterned’ because of this new knowledge

Too many data The feeling of being ‘snowed under’ by ‘data’ (= fieldwork materials) Means that the learning trajectory is not yet complete (no story yet) That materials do not yet allow appropriate generalizations That materials have not yet become ‘data’ ‘data’ are a theory-infused selection of materials

Solutions Avoid seeing materials as ‘data’ Avoid assumption that the story can only be told with ‘data’ Realize that the materials are about a learning trajectory Focus on that learning trajectory (don’t pretend not to know) Focus on the story, data will follow