What a great opportunity to explore an idea that has haunted me a bit since first introduced last year in the 565 AI course.
Here are the discussion questions I mentioned in the video!
Have you attempted to talk to students about data safety? How did it go and what did you learn?
What can institutions actually do to avoid participating in the exploitation of student data? What successes and failures has your institution encountered?
Considering the term ‘data-colonialism’ and what we know about the exploitative and horrifying history of colonialism – does the term fit or should we be more careful using it?
What does data-colonialism look like in the future, with companies trying to bring to life concepts like the ‘singularity’ and ‘metaverse,’ will we be colonized people before we ever log in?
This is something I think a lot about in relation to the work I do. The unit I work in is housed between two departments at my university: the Library, and Student Services. There is a discrepancy in culture and procedure between these two units, and one big way they differ is in data collection. My team, Learning Resources, is keen to collect data about the students using our services. If we know which students are using our services (Supplemental Instruction, Peer Tutoring, and Learning Strategist appointments) we can identify which groups of students we are already helping, who we are not reaching, the impact of these resources on student success and retention, and more. With this data we can improve our services or advocate for additional funding to help reach underserved groups of students. We do anonymize and aggregate the data we collect, and it’s optional for students to share this information with us when the book an appointment, but the stance of the Library is often in opposition to collecting student information. While we are not sharing the information we collect outside of our institution, the Library has a commitment to ensuing students fully understand what data is being collected about them, how it’s used, and to recommend caution given the widespread nature of data colonialism in tech spaces (within and beyond their institution).
I haven’t yet arrived at a solution to this problem. The more data-driven my work is, the more I believe I am making informed and correct decisions to shape the services we offer, but on the other hand I complete understand and respect the decision of my colleagues who urge caution and see data collection at scale like this as inherently exploitative, or at least at risk of becoming so. I think a priority for me at this time is to find a way to share with students, in the seconds that I have their attention on the screen that asks them if they agree to share information about their booking, is how to capture all the relevant info they need to make that decision in an informed way (which this won’t just auto-skip, like a T&Cs page).