The death of data interpretation and throwing sheep in a postdigital age

Abstract

This paper argues that in the postdigital age there is an increasing shift away from understanding or undertaking in-depth data interpretation in qualitative research. It begins by outlining what is meant by the postdigital and exploring the idea of throwing sheep. The postdigital is defined here as a stance towards the digital which seeks to challenge the impact of digital technology on humanity and the environment. The idea of ‘throwing a sheep meme’ originates from a Facebook application that used to allow people to ‘throw a sheep’ at friends to poke fun at them. It is used here as a metaphor to poke fun at the way in which qualitative data overmanaged in the digital age. The second section of the paper argues that the art of data interpretation is dead due to the use of short data, poor methodology, a lack of conceptual frameworks, discounted positionality and the overlooking of the importance of representation and portrayal. The final section of the paper delineates ways in which the death of data interpretation might be avoided.