The Feminist Data Set: the effort to reveal and reimagine power structures within data science and the Web

With the current trend of moving toward automation (replacing human workers with technology) based on AI technology, developers often highlight their motivation as one of the progress and necessity. However, they often forget the social implications of large-scale implementation of these technologies, such as potential discrimination and oppression from automated decision-making systems. This thesis takes the community-based art project, The Feminist Data Set by Caroline Sinders, as a source of interest in how its activism reflects on these concerns and reveals the power structures in data science and networks. The Feminist Data Set essentially recognizes its power in its capacity to act and propose alternative practices to large technology companies. Through the analysis of the text by Sinders about the project and workshops, this thesis tries to review what specific strategies Sinders offers to tackle the issue of biases within AI and how to make networks more democratic. The...Show moreWith the current trend of moving toward automation (replacing human workers with technology) based on AI technology, developers often highlight their motivation as one of the progress and necessity. However, they often forget the social implications of large-scale implementation of these technologies, such as potential discrimination and oppression from automated decision-making systems. This thesis takes the community-based art project, The Feminist Data Set by Caroline Sinders, as a source of interest in how its activism reflects on these concerns and reveals the power structures in data science and networks. The Feminist Data Set essentially recognizes its power in its capacity to act and propose alternative practices to large technology companies. Through the analysis of the text by Sinders about the project and workshops, this thesis tries to review what specific strategies Sinders offers to tackle the issue of biases within AI and how to make networks more democratic. The model that The Feminist Data Set emphasizes actively involves participants, where the education and access to the data about algorithms could benefit social networks and the internet in more democratization and accountability, which could bring society closer to the ideas of social justice within AI-based systems.Show less

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The Feminist Data Set: the effort to reveal and reimagine power structures within data science and the Web