data feminism

“Data Feminism” by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein talks about how data can and is used as a way to increase social change and social justice. In the world that we live in today, data is misconstrued constantly. From right-wing politicians to fake news websites, the way that big data has been used to paint a one-sided picture can be dangerous in the modern landscape of the internet. The reading, which covers seven different points on data, feminism and the internet, all cultivate into one big overarching point: big data masks important facts. 

Racism, sexism, wage gaps, and more all fall under the branch of data feminism. When looking at data, “Data Feminism” talks about how its very skewed. For example, in a newer way, the rise of COVID-19 has led to the spread of false and racist information that has led to attacks and even deaths. This information is biased and one sided and leads to danger in communities. It also observed the differences between race and racism. In addition, another example that sided with me comes from labor practices. The book talks about the importance of labor, and how it is now able to be shown more visibly and to all. This is not just in labor, but also in academic papers, PHD reports, and more where the only person with credit was a main doctor and not students, PHD candidates, and more. 

Recently, Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk, and in turn has been turned into a shithole full of unbanned political and social figures, copyright infringement, crypto scams, and most importantly misinformation. In addition to this, Musk has fired a good chunk of the Twitter staff force. Tech is a small community, so by firing these people, he’s only paving the way for them to be in a better job. Most importantly, he has turned a once diverse staff team into mainly men on business visas, in a way holding them hostage. This shortage and one-sided look has led to numerous people calling out Musk and higher ups at Twitter, highlighting these issues of the lack of diversity on a website touted to be the frontpage of the internet. This goes back to the book by looking at the idea of a one sided workplace and how context and labor is important in the overall look of data, especially data feminism. This look is digging twitter into a hole that is hard to get out of.