Critical Data and Ethics

This course examines the ethical contexts of data as socio-political phenomena. In highlighting the various ethical dilemmas that can arise in data saturated worlds, the course encourages students to contextualize, critique, and reflect upon how data are generated, for whom, and to what effects. It guides students in this endeavor by adopting a critical data studies approach focused on analyzing the structural conditions through which data emerge and have serious effects on the world. The course supports students in conducting an ethical analysis of a contemporary data dilemma arising within the public and private sectors.