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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Date: June 4, 2020
Time: 1pm - 3pm (EST)
Location: Remote (Open to the public on BlueJeans: https://bluejeans.com/906802702
Dissertation Title: All Data are Human: The Human Infrastructure of Civic Data Infrastructures
Candidate : Firaz Peer
Dissertation Committee
Dr. Carl DiSalvo, Chair, Georgia Tech
Dr. Chris LeDantec, Georgia Tech
Dr. Nassim Parvin, Georgia Tech
Dr. Paul Mihailidis, Emerson College
Dr. Yanni Loukissas, Georgia Tech
Abstract
The power and prevalence of data in our lives has brought attention to the issue of the data divide, where those with time, knowledge, skills and resources to analyze data benefit disproportionately when compared to those from socioeconomically marginalized communities who lack these privileges. The call to bridge this data divide has come from scholars of communication, critical data studies as well as community informatics. In responding to this call, my research suggests one approach through which we might bridge this data divide.
Data dashboards are a part of civic data infrastructures that promise to bridge this data divide, as they summarize data and insights in a manner that enhances transparency, efficiency and accountability in decision making between citizens and their governments. But again, these dashboards tend to unequally benefit socio economically privileged communities who have the skills and resources to access, interpret and make use of this data over communities that are underserved. In studying a particular data dashboard that was developed for a group of socio economically marginalized communites in the City of Atlanta, my research offers an understanding of what it takes to design, use and maintain data infrastructures that would allow marginalized communities to equitably share in the benefits afforded by the publicizing of data through dashboards. In addition to answering the call to bridge the data divide, my research will also offer practical strategies that will allow us to create public data dashboards that serve the needs all communities, whether marginalized or not.
