Over the past two decades, increasingly complex regimes for accessing information have made it challenging for activists to unpack and confront government and corporate practices. Access to information is brokered through a web of platforms and procedures demanding information users become skilled at collecting and analyzing data. In this context, how can social activists generate capacities to make sense of the institutions that they confront? And how can they deploy data in a way that makes an impact?

On 5-7 May 2023, we propose to host a three-day skills development workshop, entitled Mobilizing Data for Justice, bringing together community activists, students, faculty members as well as in-person and online publics to discuss strategies and tactics for doing data activism.

The event will creatively blend academic skills building, community outreach, and research collaboration. We aim to focus on three sets of skills: (1) Visualizing – How can activists and critical researchers deploy techniques, such as mapping and counter mapping, in visualizing social justice issues in new ways? (2) Archiving – How can activists and critical researchers effectively engage with archives through which data is brokered? And how can they create the own archives? (3) Surveilling – How can activists and critical researchers identify and negotiate surveillance infrastructures in organizing their work?