Data Ethics & Society Reading Group 25-08-2020
Meeting info
Description
Session 2: Reflecting on Practice
Materials
Discussion Points for Reflection
- Should we think critically about ‘public good’ as civil servants?
- Is working through a lens of intersectional feminism in direct conflict with public sector ‘neutrality’?
Materials for Book Club
Main text: Data Feminism (open review version), Catherine D’Ignazio & Lauren Klein.
A fully open-access version of this text will soon be available. In the meantime, attendees of the event can be sent a link to a digital version of the text upon request (please email one of the course leaders). Please do not share this digital copy of the book outside of the group.
For this session, please focus on the following selection of supplementary reading material:
Quick reads:
Gov resources:
Journal article:
Further Reading
If you find any more articles/materials you think the group would find useful, please contact us.
There is so much, too much to put here!
Discussion prompts
General discussion prompts
General questions might be:
- What did you think about what you read?
- What was your favourite idea/passage in the piece?
- What did you like least?
- Was there anything that shocked or surprised you?
- Did this change your perception of data science? Does this change public perception of data science?
- What do you think the author was trying to achieve with the book/article?
- What were the most important points/topics covered?
- Was there anything you disagreed with, or that struck you as controversial?
- Pick out a quote from the material/book you found particularly interesting and be prepared to explain why
- More ideas here
Specific Discussion Prompts
A few ideas of specific points of discussion, based on the material:
- Do you think we do enough as civil servants, to think critically about the data we use, and how we use it?
- Are data science practitioners in the civil service adequately informed and engaged in critical reflection about the nature of their practice?
- Do different kinds of data science roles require different levels of engagement in discussions about data ethics?
- Can an ‘engaged’ and thoughtful data science practitioner in government actually make change?
- Should we think critically about ‘public good’ as civil servants?
- Is working through a lens of intersectional feminism in direct conflict with public sector ‘neutrality’?
- What does it mean for data scientists in the civil service, if Ben Green is correct in saying:
“if computer science is to productively contribute to creating a better society, it must develop a rigorous methodology that considers what it means to do good and how to choose among competing goods. This requires, first and foremost, a political orientation for algorithmic practice.”
- Ben Green also claims that data practice is political activity:
“Whether or not the computer scientists behind this and similar projects recognize it, their decisions about what problems to work on, what data to use, and what solutions to propose involve normative stances that affect the distribution of power, status, and rights across society. They are, in other words, engaging in political activity.”
Feedback
We welcome all feedback on all aspects of the event- please do so as soon as you are able.
We are aware that we could improve the accessibility of this material, and welcome all suggestions and help to do so.