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Designing Tools for Data Advocacy

Abstract:

Local governments, nonprofits, and community-based organizations are increasingly producing data, but there remains a gap between producing data and using it to advocate for local change. In this Research through Design (RtD) engagement, we partner with a local nonprofit to build tools that support the work of data advocacy. Building on insights from interviews and ethnographic field notes, we designed, prototyped, developed, and deployed tools to support our partner in leveraging data for digital activism. We present three tools that employed data for constructing, amplifying, and visibilizing bird-building collisions. Reading across these artifacts and reflecting on our design process, we find that data production alone fails to meet the action goals of the organization. To better leverage data for social change, we recommend (1) exploring the uses of provisional data, (2) embracing heterogeneous data sources, and (3) supporting data work that cultivates deep engagement.