QUEER DIGITAL LIVES: UNDERSTANDING DATAFICATION THROUGH CREATIVE COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES

Abstract

Grounded in a participatory action research (PAR) framework, this project examines how queer individuals experience datafication and surveillance in their daily lives and respond to it. Building on existing literature on both datafication and LGBTQ+ digital practices, we address the tensions around visibility, invisibility and hypervisibility that emerge in queer people’s encounters with the datafied gaze. The research is based on three focus groups and a zine-making workshop, conducted with a small group of LGBTQ+ participants in Glasgow (UK) and involving different creative and participatory activities. We find that participants are aware of the amount of data that is collected about them, and they think that ‘opting out’ is largely unrealistic; they remark on how much this data collection renders them heavily visible online and specifically visible as queer. They highlight two paradoxes: first, that the enactment of safety policies by corporate digital platforms renders queer communities more visible, but not safer; second, that these platforms are sites for the development of queer knowledge but are also extracting it. Further, participants explain the tactics of invisibility they adopt to set boundaries to protect themselves; while they had not previously necessarily thought of them as responding to datafication, they became aware of this connection by participating in our research. Lastly, participants’ experiences show how knowledge about visibility and invisibility circulates within queer communities, leading to mutual learning. By adopting a PAR approach, our project not only documents participants’ experiences but also invites them to co-create empowering knowledge about datafication and surveillance.