critical data studies in the academy

Dr Tracey P. LauriaultCommunication StudiesSchool of Journalism and [email protected]@TraceyLauriault

Critical Data Studies in the Academy

November 4, 2015Faculty of Publ ic Affairs

Bagels and BanterB454 Loeb

Carleton Universi ty, 24 APRIL 2015

Dr Tracey P. Lauriault, Communication Studies, Carleton University

TOC1. Critical Data Studies2. Data Science3. Reasoning4. In the Academy


DATA AND EVERYDAY LIFE


DATA ARE EVEN A PLATFORM!


Research and thinking that applies critical social theory to data to explore the ways in which they are never simply neutral objective independent raw representations of the world

Data are instead understood to be: situated contingent relational contextual and do active work in the world

CRITICAL DATA STUDIES

Image Source: A data culture for everyone, Official Microsoft Blog, Posted April 15, 2014 By Satya Nadella - Chief Executive

Officer, Microsoft, http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/04/15/a-data-culture-for-

everyone/


1. Situate data regimes in time and space2. Expose data as inherently political and

whose interests they serve3. Unpack the complex, non-deterministic

relationship between data and society4. Illustrate the ways in which data are never

raw5. Expose the fallacies that data can speak for

themselves and that big data will replace small data

6. Explore how new data regimes can be used in socially progressive ways

7. Examine how academia engages with new data regimes and the opportunities of such engagement.

7 PROVOCATIONS

Craig Dalton and Jim Thatcher, 2014, What does a critical data studies look like, and why do we care? Seven points for a critical approach to ‘big data’, The Society and Space,

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space

(The government is ready with a roadmap to capture interstate trade data,

considered as essential for the proposed Goods and Service

Tax regime, )

Image Source: Economic Times, Indicators page, 2013

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-03-13/news/37683866_1_trade-data-interstate-trade-inter-state-trade






Unpack the complex assemblages that produce, circulate, share/sell and utilise data in diverse ways; Chart the diverse work they do and their consequences for how the world is known, governed and lived-in; Survey the wider landscape of data assemblages and how they interact to form intersecting data products, services and markets and shape policy and regulation.

CRITICAL DATA STUDIES VISION

Image Source: General Dynamics IT Publish Health Data Whitepapers, 2014, http://www.itwnetworks.com/blog/view/general-dynamics-it-publish-

health-data-whitepapersRob Kitchin and Tracey P. Lauriault, Forthcoming, Toward a Critical Data Studies: Charting and Unpacking Data

Assemblages and their Work, in J. Eckert,, A. Shears & J. Thatcher, Geoweb and Big Data, University of Nebraska Press , Pre-Print http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2474112


KITCHIN’S DATA ASSEMBLAGE

Material Platform(infrastructure – hardware)

Code Platform(operating system)

Code/algorithms (software)

Data(base)

Interface

Reception/Operation (user/usage)

Systems of thought

Forms of knowledge

Finance

Political economies

Governmentalities & legalities

Organisations and institutions

Subjectivities and communities

Marketplace

System/process performs a task

Contextframes the system/task

Digital socio-technical assemblage

HCI, remediation studies

Critical code studiesSoftware studies

Critical data studies

New media studiesgame studies

Critical Social ScienceScience Technology

Studies

Platform studies

Places

Practices

Flowline/Lifecycle

The Data Revolution (2014) Sage


Are more than the unique arrangement of objective and politically neutral facts

&they do not exist independently of ideas,

techniques, technologies, systems, people and contexts regardless of them being presented in

that way

DATA – BIG OR SMALL

Tracey P. Lauriault, 2012, Data, Infrastructures and Geographical Imaginations. Ph.D. Thesis, Carleton University, Ottawa, http://curve.carleton.ca/theses/27431


DATA SCIENCE Master’s Program

Communication Studies (Thesis or Research Essay)

Biology* (thesis) Biomedical Engineering* (thesis) Business (concentration) Computer Science* (thesis) Economics (thesis or coursework) Electrical and Computer Engineering* (thesis, project or coursework)

Geography (MSc thesis)*These are part of the joint institutes with the University of Ottawa

Institute The aim is to support interdisciplinary research and graduate studies in Data Science through research seminars, interdisciplinary research groups, joint events with industry and our joint Masters program in Data Science. Seminars Data Day Research Groups IBM CasCon


Another quantitative revolution is taking place – reification of data at the expense of other forms of knowing

Concurrently there is an aversion to evidence informed decision making

Renaissance of probability – neo-liberal version How we know about ourselves and where we live is mediated and narrated with data

The datafication of people and the geocoding of everything is producing new subjects to govern, a powerful biopolitics

Uneven social and political relations - there are blank spots on the map, there are invisible people, and there are data shadows

Along with methodological issues, access to the means of counting and the production of numbers is uneven

To adapt we need new synthesis and political sophistication

A NEW KIND OF NUMERACY IS REQUIRED


PUBLIC AFFAIRS African Studies (UG + MA) Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs Public Affairs and Policy Management (UG)

Global and International Studies (UG)

Political Management (MA) Criminology and Criminal Justice (UG)

Economics (UG + MA + PhD) European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (UG + MA)

International Affairs (MA) Infrastructure Protection & International Security

Journalism and Communication (UG + MA + Phd)

Law and Legal Studies (Grad) Conflict ResolutionPolitical Economy (MA?)Political Science (UG +MA + PhD)Public Policy and Administration (MA) Indigenous Policy and Administration (MA + Diploma)

Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MA + Diploma)

Public Administration (MA + PhD) Public Policy (PhD) Sustainable Energy Policy (MA)

Social Work


QUESTIONS Data Science Program? Faculty of Public Affairs? Research Methods? Statistics? Research Methods? Library & Data Management?

critical data studies in the academy

Data & Analytics