Update: The final version of Data Feminism is now available. Thank you to all readers who took part in this open review process.
Welcome to the community review site for Data Feminism. Thank you for your generosity and time in choosing to read and comment on this manuscript draft. The review period for this draft will close on January 7, 2019, although the ability to leave comments will still be available after that point.
We have chosen to put this draft online because of a foundational principle of this project: that all knowledge is incomplete, and that the best knowledge is gained by bringing together multiple partial perspectives. A corollary to this principle is that our own perspectives are limited, especially with respect to the topics and issues that we have not personally experienced. As we describe more fully in our values statement, we recognize that the people who are most directly affected by specific topics and issues are the ones who know the most about them. In our book, we have attempted to elevate their voices, and amplify their ideas. In our attempt to do so, we have also likely made mistakes. We strive to be reflexive and accountable in our work, and we hope to learn from you about places where we’ve gotten things wrong, and about how we can do better.
This is a book that aspires to speak to multiple audiences. These include professionals such as data scientists, data journalists, visualization designers, and software developers, as well as activists and organizers who work with data. Additional audiences include students and scholars from a range of academic fields, including digital humanities, women's and gender studies, critical race studies, media studies, information science/studies, STS, HCI, and information visualization, among others. We also welcome your help in pointing out any places that may require additional explanation, or that may not be accessible to newcomers in those professions and fields.
We are grateful to those who have shown us generosity in giving us their feedback up to this point. To readers of this manuscript—our future teachers—we commit to being open listeners. We recognize direct and critical words as generosity, and as a vote of confidence in our ability to hear and be transformed by you.
Below you will find the complete draft of the manuscript, as well as our values statement, and a code of conduct for commenting. Please feel free to email Catherine and/or Lauren with any comments that you would rather not publicly disclose.
Thank you, once again, for your generosity and time. We look forward to learning from you.
Catherine D’Ignazio, Assistant Professor, Emerson College
Lauren Klein, Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Data Feminism cover image: Digital visualizations by Christopher Pietsch and Siqi Zhu from Art of the March, an archival project led by Alessandra Renzi, Dietmar Offenhuber, and Nathan Felde, based on posters collected from the 2017 Boston Women's March.