• Challenge existing narratives about the purpose and power of technology in society using rigorous interdisciplinary research;
• Expand and support a diverse field of people and organizations grappling with cultural, legal, political, and technical approaches to issues raised by data-centric technologies;
• Foreground the social impact of data-centric technologies to inform the development of governance structures;
• Foster a culture and practice of open experimentation and new forms of knowledge production.

The expertise, networks, and infrastructure we’ve built at Data & Society allow us to address each of these pillars depending on the project, and close the gap between empirical social science research and real-world systems, helping to create lasting systemic change.

• Governing Artificial Intelligence assesses how technology companies, governments, intergovernmental organizations, civil society groups, and actors in the United Nations (UN) system can use human rights frameworks in order to govern AI systems.
• Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes: The Manipulation of Audio and Visual Evidence highlights how advanced machine learning tools are not necessary to create fast-circulating AV manipulations, and underscores that those without the power to negotiate evidentiary “truth”—including people of color, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community—are left vulnerable to increased harms by these manipulations.
• Uberland: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Rules of Work. Alex Rosenblat’s major ethnographic study of Uber drivers exposes how “algorithmic management” and the rise of platforms are radically altering the way we work.
• The Media Manipulation “Trade Craft” series. This trio of reports (Data Voids, Data Craft, Source Hacking) for newsrooms identifies the newest tactics for spreading false or problematic information—including evidence collages, keyword squatting, and the manipulation of social media metadata.
• AI in Context: The Labor of Integrating New Technologies uncovers the “human infrastructures” necessary to integrate AI systems at family-owned farms and grocery stores, finding tricky and sometimes counterintuitive ways that workers must labor to harmonize new “smart” technologies with preexisting processes.
• Alternative Influence analyzes an alternative media system of influencers that build audiences to “sell” political ideology on YouTube.

• Conferences: A highlight was Founder and President danah boyd as the keynote speaker at the Online News Association conference with a talk titled “Media Manipulation, Strategic Amplification, and Responsible Journalism.”
• Publications: Researchers Emanuel Moss and Jacob Metcalf published an op-ed in Harvard Business Review about the tensions that arise between industry commitments to the bottom line and ethical imperatives when Silicon Valley tech companies implement ethics initiatives. Our researchers also contributed three op-eds to The New York Times’ Privacy Project: Mark Latonero wrote about how collecting biometric data as a condition of humanitarian aid undermines recipients’ privacy and security; Mary Madden explained the challenges faced by low-income people when trying to evade and fix digital harm; and Legal Scholars Andrew Selbst and Margot Kaminski identified shortcomings in proposed legislation that would require companies to identify bias in their algorithms.
• Citations: Data & Society researchers were quoted and cited widely in the press. Notable coverage includes a New York Magazine review of Senior Researcher Alex Rosenblat’s book Uberland; a special spotlight in The New York Times of Artist and Data & Society Fellow Stephanie Dinkins; an appearance on NPR by Data & Society Researcher Rebecca Lewis to speak about extremism on YouTube; and commentary on fair algorithms in WIRED from AI on the Ground Program Director Madeleine Clare Elish.

Points is a collection of curated content from the broader Data & Society community: extracts and essays  re-frame the relations between data, technology, and society. Highlights of the blog in the past year include:

• Kinjal Dave’s blog post on moving beyond the rhetoric of personal “bias” and into critiques of technology that address systemic harms;
• Emanuel Moss’s reading list mapping the landscape of ethical tech; and
• Erin McAweeney’s essay on health misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

“Databites” is our signature speaker series that presents timely conversations about the purpose and power of technology. Speakers bridge interdisciplinary research with broader public conversations about the societal implications of data and automation. Some highlights include:

• Ruha Benjamin analyzed cases of “discriminatory design” in technology and offered tools for a socially conscious approach to tech development.
• Sarah Kessler spoke about her new book on the gig economy and illuminated the quest to find meaningful, well-paid work as technology increasingly destabilizes and transforms the future of labor, while Louis Hyman interrogated the history of temporary work.
• Yeshimabeit Milner challenged the structures that allow data to be wielded as a weapon of immense political influence.
• Carmen Rojas, Rachel Schneider, Tamara K. Nopper, and Labor Futures Program Director Aiha Nguyen discussed how innovations in the financial sector intersect with race, class, and gender wealth gaps.
• Charlton McIlwain spoke about the limits and possibilities for using digital technology to push for racial justice in the United States and across the globe.

Our workshops bring together journalists, academics, artists, and practitioners to share ideas and spark collaborations around big questions, such as the intersections between tech and labor, health, and race. Some highlights include:

• In a May 2019 symposium, Data & Society kicked off #unsettle, an emerging program that reorients research on data-driven worlds to center Indigenous, Black, Feminist, and Queer perspectives. #unsettle has opened up new opportunities for collaboration with a wide array of artists, scholars, and practitioners. We’ve talked with scholars about technology’s relationship to race and colonialism, and used creative practices to advance the citation of Black scholars’ work in our field.
• In a two-day workshop for WIRED magazine’s newsroom, Data & Society’s Director of Creative Strategy Sam Hinds presented a program covering the gig economy, AI, content moderation, and surveillance, highlighting the tensions between visible and invisible work in Silicon Valley.
• The Health + Tech Futures Workshop delved into how we make sense of our health and well-being through networked health information systems, and the ways that process can be disrupted. Speakers illuminated the perils and promise of the use of AI as a health technology, health misinformation, and the collection and analysis of health-adjacent data.

Our fellowship program works to build out new relationships and draw emerging scholars into conversations about data-driven worlds. In 2018-2019 we were joined by labor rights organizer Veronica Avila, criminal justice lawyer Cynthia Conti-Cook, sociologist Jessie Daniels, artist Stephanie Dinkins, accessibility advocate Chancey Fleet, privacy scholar Jasmine McNealy, and policy advisor Mutale Nkonde. Some highlights include:

• Mutale Nkonde seeded connections with her blog post on public interest technologists, in which she argued that they should scrutinize the asymmetrical power systems that lead to the weaponization of technological systems against vulnerable communities.
• Nkonde, Jessie Daniels, and Darakhshan Mir wrote the report “Advancing Racial Literacy in Tech,” urging tech companies to adopt racial literacy practices in order to break out of old patterns.
• Stephanie Dinkins’s AI.Assembly gathering in November 2018 cross-pollinated contributions to ethics, equity, transparency, and innovation in machine learning and techno-cultures.
• Chancey Fleet talked with Data & Society’s Director of Research Sareeta Amrute on the urgent attention that needs to be given to accessibility of everyday digital interactions.

• In 2019, Clarke and congressional colleagues introduced the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which would require companies to study and fix computer algorithms that result in unfair or discriminatory decisions.
• The Project on Data Integrity launched its “Sim-Census” simulations to help stakeholders practice responding to disinformation that might disrupt the 2020 Census.
• Executive Director Janet Haven and Postdoctoral Scholar Andrew Selbst testified before the New York City Council’s Committee on Technology about the Open Algorithms Law. They called for oversight of the Automated Decision Systems Task Force to ensure access to “details of ADS systems in use by specific agencies” and a public engagement process.

• Senior Researcher Alex Rosenblat spoke to the UN in fall 2019 on Uber and emerging models of economic activity. She explained how drivers endure algorithmic management, and the constant tussle between a flexible work schedule and diminishing worker protections.

danah boyd
Founder and President of the Board, Data & Society; Partner Researcher, Microsoft Research

Catherine Bracy
Co-Founder and Executive Director, TechEquity Collaborative

Anil Dash
CEO, Glitch

Alexander Macgillivray
Former United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer

Alondra Nelson
Professor of Sociology, Columbia University; President, Social Science Research Council

Veronica Avila
Dan Bouk
Anita Say Chan
Cynthia Conti-Cook
Jessie Daniels
Stephanie Dinkins
Chancey Fleet
Michele Gilman
Jasmine E. McNealy
Mutale Nkonde