DATA REPRESENTATION AS EPISTEMOLOGICAL RESISTANCE

Abstract

Over the last two decades quantitative data representation has moved from a specialization of the sciences, economics, and statistics, to becoming commonplace in settings of democratic governance and community decision making. The dominant norms of those fields of origin are not connected to the governance and activism settings data is now used in, where practices emphasize empowerment, efficacy, and engagement. This has created ongoing harms and exclusion in a variety of well-documented settings. In this paper I critique the singular way of knowing embodied and charts and graphs, and apply the theories of epistemological pluralism and extended epistemology to argue for a larger toolbox of data representation. Through three concrete case studies of data representations created by activists I argue that social justice movements can embrace a broader set of approaches, practicing creative data representation as epistemological resistance. Through learning from these ongoing examples the fields of data literacy, open data, and data visualization can help create a broader toolbox for data representation. This is necessary to create a pluralistic practice of bringing people together around data in social justice settings.