How to store custom data in web.config?

How to store custom data in web.config?

I have the following method in my apiController:
public IEnumerable<something> GetData(DataProvider dataProvider)
{
return dataProvider.GetData();
}
What I need is to invoke this method from javascript and pass it a
parameter of DataProvider derived type. I can handle this by passing
string, e.g. "FirstProvider" and than write N number of if's in GetData()
method to create an instance of proper type.
But is there some way that I can write in web.config file something like:
<DataProviders>
<type = FirstDataProvider, alias = "FirstProvider">
<type = SecondDataProvider, alias = "SecondProvider">
</DataProviders>
Change getData method to:
public IEnumerable<something> GetData(string dataProviderAlias)
{
// get provider type by it's alias from web congfig,
// then instantiated and call:
return dataProvider.GetData();
}
And then find and instantiate the type by it's alias?