Imagining, Representing and Including Minority Populations in Noncommercial Data Based Projects

• In Event: Digital Inclusion In Practices - I: Digital inclusion in public action

Abstract

Generalization of Big Data, and the resulting “datafication” of society (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, 2013) complexifies the notion of digital inequalities—and its associated forms of exclusions (Robinson et al., 2020; Carmi & Yates, 2020). In this framework, this paper investigates how the professionals involved in non-commercial data-driven projects envision the inclusion and participation of citizens who are not familiar with digital tools, especially those from minorities (Laplanche-Servigne & Sa Vilas Boas, 2019). Based on the collective research project “The Datafication of Society: Sociopolitical issues in the production and use of public and private data” (UQAM), my paper will look closer at two projects: Montreal City’s open data portal and a Quebec health data sharing public platform. I will investigate those from a Critical Data Studies and STS theoretical perspective, plus a qualitative methodology based on the analysis of institutional documentation and interviews with the professionals involved in those projects. The aim of this research is to explore tensions between the official discourse, sometimes tainted by technophilia—representing data as a means to create social change benefiting everyone—and the concrete actions and tools implemented to encourage the participation of people belonging to minority populations.

Author

• Lucie Delias, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)