Decolonizing Data

Systems and schemes for databases and automated data flow processing often contain implicitly Westernized, autocratic or even imperialist features, but can also be appropriated for resistance and revolt. Algorithms are not strictly mathematical but also embody cultural constructs. Values circulate in systems along with labels and quantities. This entails more critically reflective data practices whether in government, academia, industry or the civic sphere.

Algorithms & Society Book Series

Chapter 1 — “Notes on the Historiography of Data Colonialism” by Ulises A. Mejias– presents historiographical inquiry into the data colonialism thesis, emphasizing why the thesis may still be useful for analysis and action despite some of its limitations. Data colonialism frames computer science as a colonizing science that uses data to classify and govern us. Decolonizing and declassifying data from digital networks allows us to examine their social and cultural logics. Colonial and capitalist systems are tenacious and persistent, and their extractivism spans the globe. Data colonialism restricts our imagination by offering us a vision of a homogenized present, suppressing the truth that the past and future are contested fields open to many interpretations.

Chapter 2 — “Metadata Is Not Data About Data” by Kyle Parry– argues that the dominant conception of metadata as “data about data” requires rigorous critique. The chapter proposes new approaches to thinking about metadata that are required as a response to the expansion of social media, digital surveillance and persistent calls to dispute and decolonize seemingly neutral terms of discourse. Using ideas from visual culture and Trinh T. Minh-Ha’s distinction between ‘speaking about and speaking nearby,’ the chapter analyzes metadata beyond the frame of aboutness and introduces the provocation of “data near data.” Metadata is not merely data about data, but is also distributive, reparative, expressive, and extractive.

Chapter 3 — “Social media use in the Sudanese Uprising, 2018: Mediating civilian-military discourse” by Mustafa Taha– presents an exploratory study examining the influence of social media in the Sudanese revolt that overthrew Gen. Omer Al-Bashir on April 11, 2019. The pro-Islamic Bashir regime censored local media and political dissent, which failed to quell popular unrest. Participants in the protests used social media to coordinate their activities and overthrow Bashir’s dictatorial administration. The demonstrators bypassed the blackout using mobile phones, SMS, brochures, and word-of-mouth. The study contributes to cyber-activism research on social media in post-colonial contexts.

Acknowledgment

The chapter summaries here have in places drawn from the authors’ chapter abstracts, the full versions of which can be found in Routledge’s online reference for the volume.

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Michael Filimowicz, PhD (usually AI augmented : )
Michael Filimowicz, PhD (usually AI augmented : )

Written by Michael Filimowicz, PhD (usually AI augmented : )

School of Interactive Arts & Technology (SIAT) Simon Fraser University youtube.com/@MykEff