Preserving for a More Just Future: Tactics of Activist Data Archiving

Abstract

The ownership of the life cycle of data—who creates it, processes it, visualizes it, preserves it—is a question of enormous power in our data-saturated society. The task of collecting, analyzing, and safeguarding large sets of data typically falls within the purview of data professionals: data scientists or statisticians tasked with deciphering the insights of large numbers or variables. Acting like modern-day oracles, they must know what metadata to collect, anticipate the needs of future users, and carefully track changes as data is worked upon and contexts change.