Digital Event Horizon
Associate Professor Catherine D'Ignazio is a leading expert on data science and social issues, with a particular focus on addressing data injustices and promoting inclusive data practices. Her 2024 book "Counting Feminicide" highlights the potential of grassroots data science and citizen activism to drive social change. Through her research, teaching, and community engagement, D'Ignazio is working to create a more just and equitable world through the power of data.
Catherine D'Ignazio is a data designer working to collaborate with communities lacking access to reliable data. Her research interests include data architecture, visualization, and analysis of data's impact on society. D'Ignazio has created projects like "Counting Feminicide" using AI tools to support human rights defenders' work. She emphasizes the importance of inclusive and equitable data design and recognizes the need for data origin questions. D'Ignazio's work has been recognized with a tenure award, and she continues to inspire students to think about data science's social implications.
Associate Professor Catherine D'Ignazio is a data designer driven to collaborate with communities, particularly those that lack access to reliable and comprehensive data. Her work focuses on designing data infrastructures that support civic participation and challenge structural inequalities.
D'Ignazio's research interests span various areas of data science, including data architecture, visualization, and analysis of the relationship between data production and society. She has a strong interest in applying data to social issues, often to help the disempowered gain access to numbers and provide a fuller picture of civic problems.
One of D'Ignazio's most notable projects is her 2024 book on feminicide, "Counting Feminicide," which chronicled the entire process of creating AI tools with human rights defenders to support their monitoring work. This project highlighted the issue of data voids and demonstrated how grassroots data science and citizen data activism can be powerful forms of civic participation.
D'Ignazio's global outlook has helped her understand regional and national politics behind data issues, as well as challenges faced by citizen watchdogs in terms of data collection. Her perspective emphasizes the importance of considering who participates in data science and how we design our data infrastructures to support inclusive and equitable outcomes.
In an interview, D'Ignazio noted that "the question is: How do we design technologies that help communities build power?" She also highlighted the need to ask questions about the origins of data, including where it comes from, how it was collected, and why some issues have more comprehensive data than others.
D'Ignazio's work has been recognized with her 2024 tenure award, which acknowledges her research and teaching contributions to the field of data science. As a faculty member in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, she continues to inspire students to think openly about data science and its social underpinnings.
In addition to her academic pursuits, D'Ignazio has organized feminist hackathons, such as "Make the Breast Pump Not Suck," which brought together hundreds of participants to develop innovative technologies and policies addressing postpartum health and infant feeding. These initiatives demonstrate her commitment to using data science as a tool for social change.
Through her research, teaching, and community engagement, Catherine D'Ignazio is helping to address some of the most pressing issues in data science today, including data justice, equity, and inclusion. Her work serves as a reminder that data science has the power to challenge structural inequalities and build more just societies.
Related Information:
https://news.mit.edu/2024/data-designer-catherine-dignazio-collaborates-with-communities-1201
https://www.miragenews.com/data-designer-driven-to-collaborate-with-1368423/
Published: Sun Dec 1 00:04:29 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
