Catherine D'Ignazio

A valuable book on the importance of understanding how information becomes data and how data privilege the groups that create the data, control access to it, and benefit from the interpretations it supports. The authors offer a good set of heuristic guidelines for reading into data sets and their interpretation/uptake. Later guidelines in the book could be used to guide the responsible, equitable, and inclusive collection and analysis of different or competing data sets.

I found the book to show more be very heavy on critique and the apparatus of critique, sometimes at the expense of being clear about how to build better data. However, to be fair, building in critique through the systematic valuation of multiple voices/perspectives/situations IS part of how we do better. Chapters 5 and 6 offer a bit more clarity (for me) about how to proceed. show less

This is a fantastic introductory text for several fields— most notably intersectional feminism, data ethics/justice, and visual cultures. D'Ignazio and Klein dive into the highly relevant dangers that unmonitored data can cause, and use concrete and timely examples to ground their theories in reality. Instead of pointing out a problem and despairing, they delineate actionable steps relevant to anyone using digital technologies, even for the average "layperson" who just use sites such as show more Facebook or Twitter. This is a crucial text to anyone interested in what goes into data creation, maintenance, and/or use. This is a crucial text for anyone curious about how data manipulation impacts your day to day life. This is a crucial text for anyone interested in data activism.

D'Ignazio and Klein are in the privileged position to permit the free use of their book, and I recommend taking advantage of that! Their book is free to read online. I would especially recommend reading their Intro, Chapter 3, and Chapter 6 at the bare minimum. show less

A beautifully designed and very clearly and excellently written manifesto on data presentation. Highly recommended for all.