Project +

What is DataECO?

DataECO – Data Ecologies investigates contemporary forms of environmental activism that operate both through data and against data within the context of platform society. On the one hand, it examines how environmental movements use algorithms, data, and artificial intelligence to organize, raise awareness, and exert institutional pressure. On the other, it explores protests against data centres and the environmental impact of digital infrastructures, making visible the ecological costs of digital technologies.

The project addresses three key gaps in the existing literature: the excessive focus on governance at the expense of agency; the separation between data-driven activism and activism that resists data infrastructures; and the lack of comparative analyses across diverse actors and contexts.

Project contributions

DataECO develops an innovative interdisciplinary conceptual framework that brings together research on algorithmic activism, environmental movements, and resistance to digital infrastructures. Adopting a comparative approach across Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Chile, the project combines digital ethnography, interviews, archival research, and qualitative content analysis. Its aim is to contribute to a critical understanding of emerging forms of environmental protest in the age of data, while providing valuable insights for activists, policymakers, and engaged citizens.

Funding

This project is funded through an ATRAE grant supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), the State Research Agency (AEI), and 10.13039/501100011033, at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Grant Reference: ATR2024-154984), awarded to Emiliano Treré as Principal Investigator.

Part of the project is also funded through the Collaboration Agreement between the Regional Ministry of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training of the Government of Galicia and the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) for the Development of Strategic R&D&I Actions (2025–2026).

Additional funding has been provided by the Institute for Galician Studies and Development (IDEGA) through an internal funding call.

Team

DataECO is led by Emiliano Treré (Principal Investigator) and Ezequiel Soriano (Postdoctoral Researcher). They are members of ADS (Research Group on Algorithmic Cultures, Data Ecologies and Synthetic Media), which is part of the Novos Medios research group at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela.