CSoI Collaborates with School of Information Studies to Produce New Online Module
A collaboration with Purdue's School of Information Studies faculty and students has resulted in a new online module introducing the field of critical data studies to our core CSoI students. Dr. Kendall Roark, Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies and Anthropology, and Dr. Madi Whitman, Postdoc Scholar at Columbia University (formerly a Ph.D. student at Purdue) were involved in developing the module with CSoI's Director of Education, Brent Ladd.
Critical Data Studies (CDS) is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the ethical, legal, sociocultural, epistemological and political aspects of data science, big data, and digital infrastructure.
Roark described that "This module focuses on current topics in critical data studies scholarship. Students will develop tools and methods to think critically and engage the public in conversation about data and society."
The overall module is designed for asynchronous independent or group learning experiences. Instructors and students are encouraged to use the module as a whole or incorporate individual videos, discussion, writing, and/or reading assignments into their course of study as desired.
"The new module provides a brief introduction for asking critical questions about how what we do in data science and the science of information can impact people and society. These types of inquiries can better inform our processes and understanding to help mitigate implicit biases and unintended negative impacts of algorithms, computing, and data science in general. The new module helps extend our current module series on ethics and philosophy of information, and we look forward to additional modules in the future," said Ladd.