Introduction: Collectivity in Data Governance and Data Justice

With this special issue, we seek to critically reflect on contemporary debates on data governance and data justice by foregrounding the question of collectivity from different perspectives. The issue brings together scholars from across the globe to consider how the collective features within ideas of data governance and justice, and what responses to concerns about datafication might look like beyond the individualist paradigm. It builds on the successful third Data Justice conference held in Cardiff in June 2023 on the theme of Collective Experiences in the Datafied Society hosted by the Data Justice Lab. This conference brought together close to 300 participants from around the world to explore the different ways collectives shape and are impacted by datafication today. The papers in this special issue assemble some of the outstanding contributions at the conference.