Week 8: Video & Reading Response - kalibirdsall/Creative-Coding-Class-Wiki GitHub Wiki

Reading -- Data Feminism, chapter: "On Rational, Scientific, Objective Viewpoints from Mythical, Imaginary, Impossible Standpoints”, by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein:

The text discusses how data visualization can be used to evoke emotions and sway opinions with their emotional angle. Cited is the example of Periscopic’s gun deaths visualization, which was designed to elicit emotion in the viewer by showing how many people died by guns in a year, and by showing the years of life stolen from those people.

Many in the data visualization community believe that emotions don’t belong in data and that visualizations should be neutral and free of manipulative devices. However, it’s hard to argue that a dataset is truly neutral when specific people with specific beliefs and agendas have decided which data to gather and which data to publish/present. Saying that anyone, even the most conscientious data scientist, works without attachment to emotion or political beliefs is a little delusional. Everyone everywhere has feelings and it’s not possible for feelings to be put in a box so real data can be visualized. So why not embrace and promote emotional expression? Repression doesn’t make feelings go away, it just hides them in a corner where they fester and grow. And let’s not pretend that data is neutral when it just isn’t.

Video Lecture -- "Feminist Data Visualization", by Catherine D’ignazio: I related a lot to this video. The speaker started by talking about her experience with breast pumps, which are basically horrible to use and end up discouraging many women from feeding their babies breast milk. She was studying at MIT at the time she was breast feeding, and despite studying in a brand new MIT building that was designed around "the future" and that was supposed to embody innovation and forward-thinking, no one had included a room for mothers to pump breast milk in. For her to pump her milk, her only option was to use the bathroom, which has so many obvious practical problems. This negative experience inspired her to educate and innovate in the space of breast pumps through hackathons which would lead to better product development.

Her experience of breast feeding really resonated with me. When I had a baby I was absolutely devoted to breast feeding my son. It was a top, top, TOP priority for me. I honestly didn't see how breast feeding him and ensuring he got the right care would be possible without me basically doing it all myself so I quit my job and stayed home with him for 2 years. I breast fed him, in total, for 4 1/ 2 years, and I feel like it was a huge gift I gave him, and it made our bond so strong. I hate that most women don't have the option to breast feed, if that's what they want to do, for an extended period. Everything is stacked against them achieving that goal, so it's wonderful to see someone like D'ignazio dedicating herself to this cause.

D'ignazio then wrote book with her coauthor about data feminism to "put data in the service of justice". The 7 principles of Data Feminism she laid out were:

  • Examine power
  • Challenge power
  • Rethink binaries and hierarchies
  • Legitimize embodiment and affect
  • Embrace pluralism
  • Consider context
  • Make labor visible

This is such a great list!

She points out how data is biased in many ways that are invisible. For example, missing datasets. When data is not collected, problems are silenced, hidden and ignored. It's so important to remember how the group in power is able to manipulate data by just not even collecting it in the first place.