Data activism

Data activism is a form of activism that uses data and data analysis to generate evidence and visualizations with the aim of revealing injustices, improving people's lives and promoting social change. It emerged from living in a time of data abundance, and the varieties of new technologies we possess; such as aerial sensors, ubiquitous mobile devices, and radio-frequency identification readers. With these new technologies, we have entered a new phase in human history called the "industrial revolution of data".

Data activism uses the production and collection of digital, volunteered, and open data to challenge existing power relations. Although this is a form of activism, it is not to be confused with the term slacktivism, meaning a low-effort method of using the internet to support political or social issues. Forms of data activism can include digital humanitarianism and engaging in hackathons, which is an event in which software developers are working at an accelerated pace. Data activism is a social practice that is becoming more well known with the expansion of technology, open-sourced software and the ability to communicate beyond an individual's immediate community.

A defining characteristic of data activism is that ordinary citizens can participate, in comparison to previous forms of media activism where elite skill sets were required to participate. It gives power back to civilians, as they can leverage data activism in two ways: proactive data activism and reactive data activism, which will be discussed in the later paragraphs. By increasingly involving everyday users, data activism reflects a shift in how civil society perceives and responds to large-scale data collection.

Data activism can be the act of providing data on events or issues that individuals feel have not been properly addressed by those in power. For example, the first deployment of the Ushahidi platform in 2008 in Kenya visualized the post-electoral violence that had been silenced by the government and the new media. The social practice of data activism revolves around the idea that data is political in nature. By collecting data for a particular purpose, it allows data activists to quantify and expose specific issues using statistical evidence.