The Data Feminism Infographic

As data are increasingly mobilized in the service of governments and corporations, their unequal conditions of production, their asymmetrical methods of application, and their unequal effects on both individuals and groups have become increasingly difficult for artificial intelligence (AI) researchers – and others who rely on data in their work – to ignore. But it is precisely this power that makes it worth asking: "AI by whom? AI for whom? AI with whose interests in mind?” These are some of the questions about AI that emerge from a larger project we call data feminism, a way of thinking about data science and its uses – including in AI research – that is informed by the past several decades of intersectional feminist activism and critical thought. As part of this project, we offer seven principles of data feminism: Examine power, Challenge power, Elevate emotion and embodiment, Rethink binaries and hierarchies, Embrace pluralism, Consider context, and Make labor visible. We have described these principles in a book, “Data Feminism” (MIT Press, 2020). Here we present these principles as an infographic, offering a visual call to action for those who seek to resist and/or reimagine AI research. The principles point to how, for example, challenges to the male/female binary can help to challenge other hierarchical (and empirically wrong) classification systems; how an understanding of emotion can expand the possibilities for AI research; how the concept of invisible labor can expose the significant human efforts required by AI systems; and why the data never, ever “speak for themselves.”

The goal of this infographic, as with the project of data feminism, is to model how research can be transformed into action: how feminist thinking can be operationalized in order to imagine more ethical and equitable data practices.

Title: The Data Feminism Infographic

Medium: Print

Artists: Catherine D’Ignazio, Lauren F. Klein, Marcia Diaz Agudelo

Year: 2020

Location: On display at Pedion tou Areos

Glossary: artificial intelligence