Data Feminism: Community, Allyship, and Action in the Digital Humanities

Date
2018-10-04
Authors
Klein, Lauren F.
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Abstract
What is the role of the digital humanities in the charged political climate of 2018, and how can digital humanists ally themselves with the activists, organizers, and others who are working to support those most threatened by it? This talk will take up these questions in relation to the field as a whole, and to one project in particular—Data Feminism—a way of thinking about data, both in DH projects and in everyday life, that is informed by the past several decades of feminist activism and critical thought. The Data Feminism project, developed in collaboration with Catherine D’Ignazio (Emerson College), shows how a feminist approach to data science can help to expose how power and privilege currently operate in data work, and can suggest additional design principles that help work towards justice. Placing Data Feminism among other public-facing digital projects, both in DH and beyond, this talk will argue that digital humanists can contribute in concrete and meaningful ways to a technically and historically-informed resistance.
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Keywords
data feminism, digital humanities, Data for Black Lives, data science, activism, gender, empowerment
Citation
Klein, L. F. (2018). Data feminism: Community, allyship, and action in the digital humanities [Keynote address]. Digital Frontiers Annual Conference, Lawrence, KS, United States.