Data & Society

Recorded on June 3, 2022. Learn more at www.datasociety.net.

On August 11, 2022 Dan Bouk discussed his latest book, Democracy's Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them, with Dr. Alex Hanna, Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute. The conversation was moderated by Data & Society People and Culture Manager, Ronteau Coppin. The census isn’t just a data-collection process; it’s a ritual, and a tool, of American democracy. Behind every neat grid of numbers is a collage of messy, human stories—you just have to know how to read them. In Democracy’s Data, the data historian Dan Bouk examines the 1940 U.S. census, uncovering what those numbers both condense and cleverly abstract: a universe of meaning and uncertainty, of cultural negotiation and political struggle. He introduces us to the men and women employed as census takers, bringing us with them as they go door to door, recording the lives of their neighbors. He takes us into the makeshift halls of the Census Bureau, where hundreds of civil servants, not to mention machines, labored with pencil and paper to divide and conquer the nation’s data. And he uses these little points to paint bigger pictures, such as of the ruling hand of white supremacy, the place of queer people in straight systems, and the struggle of ordinary people to be seen by the state as they see themselves. The 1940 census is a crucial entry in American history, a controversial dataset that enabled the creation of New Deal era social programs, but that also, with the advent of World War Two, would be weaponized against many of the citizens whom it was supposed to serve. In our age of quantification, Democracy’s Data not only teaches us how to read between the lines but gives us a new perspective on the relationship between representation, identity, and governance today.

Join author Emily Martin (Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology, NYU), panelists Iretiolu Akinrinade (Research Analyst, Data & Society), and Noelle Stout (faculty member, Program in Advanced Teaching and Research, Apple University), and host Emanuel Moss (Join Postdoctoral Scholar, Data & Society, Cornell Tech) for a conversation around Experiments of the Mind: From the Cognitive Psychology Lab to the World of Facebook and Twitter. Experimental cognitive psychology research is a hidden force in our online lives. We engage with it, often unknowingly, whenever we download a health app, complete a Facebook quiz, or rate our latest purchase. How did experimental psychology come to play an outsized role in these developments? Experiments of the Mind considers this question through a look at cognitive psychology laboratories. Emily Martin traces how psychological research methods evolved, escaped the boundaries of the discipline, and infiltrated social media and our digital universe. Martin recounts her participation in psychology labs, and she conveys their activities through the voices of principal investigators, graduate students, and subjects. Despite claims of experimental psychology's focus on isolated individuals, Martin finds that the history of the field--from early German labs to Gestalt psychology--has led to research methods that are, in fact, highly social. She shows how these methods are deployed online: amplified by troves of data and powerful machine learning, an unprecedented model of human psychology is now widespread--one in which statistical measures are paired with algorithms to predict and influence users' behavior. Experiments of the Mind examines how psychology research has shaped us to be perfectly suited for our networked age.

Nice White Ladies: The Truth About White Supremacy, Our Role in it, and How We Can Help Dismantle it, by D&S 2018-2019 Fellow Jessie Daniels, and hosted by Principal Researcher & Race and Tech Program Director Sareeta Amrute -- Named a Best Book of 2021 by Kirkus An acclaimed expert illuminates the distinctive role that white women play in perpetuating racism, and how they can work to fight it. In a nation deeply divided by race, the “Karens” of the world are easy to villainize. But in Nice White Ladies, Jessie Daniels addresses the unintended complicity of even well-meaning white women. She reveals how their everyday choices harm communities of color. White mothers, still expected to be the primary parents, too often uncritically choose to send their kids to the “best” schools, collectively leading to a return to segregation. She addresses a feminism that pushes women of color aside, and a wellness industry that insulates white women in a bubble of their own privilege. Daniels then charts a better path forward. She looks to the white women who fight neo-Nazis online and in the streets, and who challenge all-white spaces from workplaces to schools to neighborhoods. In the end, she shows how her fellow white women can work toward true equality for all.

Tamara K. Nopper and Chaz Arnett in conversation with Raúl Carrillo and Alyx Goodwin This panel focuses attention on how datafication processes are related to social control and surveillance, whether policing and the criminal punishment system or credit scoring systems and monitoring the use of cash. State power is expanded through the widening net of surveillance and the use of tools of automated detection and enforcement, which maintains racial and class hierarchies. Our panel also examines how communities and organizations are resisting the datafied state and its particular impact on Black and people of color communities, including efforts to regulate data collection, politically organize against harmful data initiatives, or propose policies that attempt more ethical data processes.

Ranjit Singh, Researcher at D&S, in conversation with Joanna Redden, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at the University of Western Ontario and the co-director of the Data Justice Lab, and Michele E. Gilman, Venerable Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development at the University of Baltimore School of Law and director of the Civil Advocacy Clinic. The automated state is one that seeks to replace human workers with machines. There are three general motivations. One, the desire to leverage computational speed to handle rote and routine work more efficiently. Two, the desire to improve the accuracy, fairness, or consistency of decision-making in light of human fallibility. Three, the desire to depoliticize decision-making (or appear to) by placing it out of reach of human discretion. These motivations, however, raise distinctive concerns about oversight and the ability to seek recourse in the case of errors or bugs in decision-making. What does interacting with systems, interfaces, and datasets require of people interfacing with the Datafied State? What literacies are necessary? What room is there for voice? What does automation look like in practice? Who is rendered invisible when showcasing success in automating state practices? About Data & Society Data & Society is an independent nonprofit research organization. We believe that empirical evidence should directly inform the development and governance of new technology. We study the social implications of data and automation, producing original research to ground informed, evidence-based public debate about emerging technology. About the Series The Datafied State is an emerging research agenda that seeks to explore the relationship between datafication and public administration. It is concerned with the proliferation of data sources, infrastructures, and computational techniques adopted across the public sector. The processes through which governments procure, develop, implement, and legally mandate the use of digital and computational systems are increasingly blurring the boundaries between what is considered public and private. So, how datafied is the state today? How can we find out?

Jenna Burrell, Director of Research at Data & Society, in conversation with Anne Washington, Assistant Professor of Data Policy at NYU, and Deirdre Mulligan, Professor in the School of Information at UC Berkeley. Part one in a series of three Conversations on The Datafied State. The role of government is distinct from the private sector. Governments serve the public and prioritize values beyond market fit and return on investment. Governments interface with advocacy groups, unions, and other publics and not just individuals. In their approach to solving problems using computational, data-driven systems, governments have an opportunity to model responsible, accountable, and accessible tech. But what exactly would it mean for that tech to be in “the public interest,” and how are such publics constituted?