ABSTRACT
Data have traditionally been static. With the rise of ubiquitous collection of digital data from technology users around the globe, digital theorists have struggled with what data mean and how they work. Using personal tracking technologies for examples, this chapter shows that data are now rhetorical processes: Data are arguments with timing (kairos)amid which we persuade; they are also issues on which we stand, genres with which we work, and enthymemes in which we reason. Today’s data-laden society needs to understand data as rhetorical concepts to appreciate the effect of data and data collection on individual action.
