Data Science for Social Justice
This 8-week workshop provides students the opportunity to learn the essential tools and methods for data science analysis and be introduced to critical frameworks that will enable you to create a project of your own design and to tell stories that can counter the market-first mentality of data science. This workshop has a heavy emphasis on collaboration and peer-to-peer learning, with a significant group work component.
In this workshop, students learn how to use the Python programming language to conduct data analyses, create visualizations, apply natural language processing techniques, and analyze social media data. At the same time, students explore a variety of readings rooted in critical approaches of data feminism, data activism, ethics, indigenous technologies, critical race theory. The workshop will culminate in using Python to conduct a data intensive research project, focusing on discovering and visualizing language biases in social media data, to be carried out collaboratively in a small group.
Overall, this engaging, cohort-based workshop focuses on inherent prejudice in data sets and analysis, and teaches student to deploy solutions to create social impact with data science. Activities include:
- Learning how to use the Python programming language to conduct data analyses
- Exploring positionality as a scholar in the context of data science
- Critically analyzing social media data using state-of-the-art Natural Language Processing techniques in Python
- Collaboratively annotating critical texts on data science
- Working with a group to discover and visualize language biases in Machine Learning systems
Developed in partnership between the D-Lab and the Graduate Division, with a common goal to reach marginalized students, this workshop will provide the tools, insights, and mentorship needed to get started in your critical data science journey.