REPAIR Dialogues with Caddie Alford

Caddie Alford gave a virtual talk entitled “Repair and the 5Vs of Big Data” on August 20 at 15:00-16:00 (EEST).

Abstract

Associate Professor of Digital Rhetoric Caddie Alford will deliver an interdisciplinary work-in-progress talk titled “Repair and the 5Vs of Big Data.” This talk illuminates the harms of Big Tech platformization by drawing on what computer scientists refer to as the “5Vs of Big Data:” value, veracity, volume, variety, and velocity. Applying the 5Vs as a lens sheds new light on how digitality—from technical affordances like visibility filtering to ideological logics like techno-optimism—impacts rhetorical aims, including the movement of (mis/dis/mal)information and the composition of civic consensus. Ultimately, the talk offers specific reparative corollaries from social media user-generated interventions—examples from how those most affected by Big Tech continue to repair and maintain the 5VS on the ground.

Dr. Caddie Alford (she/her) is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University. She specializes in digital rhetoric, rhetorical theory, platform studies, feminisms, and writing pedagogies. Her research inquiries can broadly be described as inquiries into the power Big Tech wields and how that power disenfranchises the most vulnerable. For three years she served as the book review editor for the journal enculturation. Starting in Fall 2025, she will be the Associate Co-Editor of Special Issues for Rhetoric Society Quarterly.