Miren Gutiérrez. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. xiii and 176 pp., figures, tables, glossary, bibliography, index. $54.99 cloth (ISBN 978-3-319-78318-5); $39.99 electronic (ISBN 978-3-319-78319-2).
In Data Activism and Social Change, Miren Gutiérrez makes a compelling case for proactive data activism as a legitimate form of resistance, in a moment in which nongovernmental organizations, citizen-driven initiatives, intergovernmental agencies, scholars, and journalists make use of datafication technologies with a proven role in the reproduction of social and economic inequalities. Aware of the apparent contradiction between opposing massive data collection on the part of corporations and governments, and using technologies developed with that purpose as a tool for social change, Gutiérrez provides a toolkit to conceptualize the social meaning and the use of data infrastructures from the bottom up, with an emphasis on the analysis of activists' practices and strategies (crisis mapping, data journalism, and data-enabled monitorial citizenship, among others).
The author frames her study as a multidisciplinary approach to proactive activism focused on human rights, humanitarianism, and climate change—she draws from journalism research, alternative and citizens' media studies, critical cartography, as well as social movement and communication theory. In a moment when the collusion between corporate and state interests has taken the form of surveillance via the gathering of massive amounts of data from citizens' public and private lives, Gutiérrez analyzes the transformation of humanitarianism vis-à-vis the rise of digital communication technologies, providing a characterization of both digital humanitarianism and advocacy, their current effects, and their potential uses for future social transformation.
Although written and structured as an academic book, Data Activism and Social Change intends to reach a broader audience. The author speaks not only via scholarly conventions but also from her own experience as a data activist in nongovernmental institutions, as well as mainstream and independent journalism. This makes it relevant for activists working with digital technologies and data gathering. If desired, every chapter could be read independently; each one provides enough context about the general purpose of the book, which is a result of the pragmatic sprit of the project. Gutiérrez presents not only a conceptual framework and a case study (the Ushahidi platform), but also a toolkit meant to be used in the analysis and improvement of data activism in different contexts.
In Chapter 1, “Mapping a Better World,” Gutiérrez explains the stakes of her study. She states that although data activism makes use of technologies that “[harm] people and transfer biases” (p. 12), the focus of her analysis is the empowering features of data-driven technologies. She ponders the unreliability of data, pointing out how it is capable of ignoring those living in vast regions of the world with no access to digital devices or the Internet, or can be subjected to deliberate or unintended bias—via the divulgation or visualization choices made by those communicating data. To Gutiérrez, algorithms' neutrality is impossible and therefore what is actually relevant is their use as tools by communities across borders. Specifically, she focuses on the attention these communities manage to get from mainstream news media outlets when they use data-driven technologies. Success of data activism is seen here in terms of its ability to intervene in the public sphere, and the communities' activity is analyzed in terms of the empirical-analytical, hermeneutical, and critical types of knowledge that factor in activists' irruption into the public sphere. Moreover, in this chapter, Gutiérrez draws from Castells theory of decentralized networks when she pairs the small scale of data activists use with the fact that information and communication technologies (ICTs) make “mobilization cheaper and centralized organization less necessary” (p. 14). Aware that ICTs both “enable and constrain activism” (p. 16), she decides to focus on the empowerment that they generate via knowledge transference.
In Chapter 2, “The Many Faces of Data Infrastructure,” Gutiérrez contextualizes proactive data activism by analyzing the use governments and corporations, on the one hand, and researchers and journalists, on the other, make of data. She shows the complexity of data infrastructure at play in massive data gathering by states and corporations, as well as data infrastructure used by journalists and scholars. In this case, Gutiérrez conflates the work of journalists and scholars with that of community-based activists. According to the author, this contextualization provides a more nuanced understanding of data usage and takes the discussion a step beyond the debate on the biased or unbiased nature of algorithms. Gutierrez attributes a different nature to massive data gathering for illegitimate surveillance purposes on the part of states, to that of massive data gathering for pragmatic purposes such as taxation or data collection for the provision of public services (which she deems neutral). Furthermore, she distinguishes between traditional mainstream news media outlets and the work of digital independent journalists (the latter stands as a form of revitalization of the profession). In sum, this is the context in which proactive data activism on the part of communities emerges.
In Chapter 3, “Proactive Data Activism,” the author presents a classification of data activists' roles and characteristics of their action. The process of data gathering, rather than visualization or outreach, takes a leading role in this chapter. Activists are not classified only according to their technical skills for dissemination (knowledge transfer via platforms, training, and tools), administration (funding of projects), content production (journalists), and geoactivism (doing interactive cartography). What they do and their identity within specific projects is a result of the ways in which they gather data (via whistleblowers, open-source data sets, crowdsourcing, appropriation, or data creation). This classification is at the heart of the chapter, but contextualized by a description of different academic perspectives in which data activism has been discussed (communicative action, alternative media studies, international relations, social movement studies, monitorial citizenship, and tech activism). She proceeds, then, to describe the characteristics of proactive data organizations. The chapter closes with an optimistic conclusion about the empowering character of data, when looked at through the lenses of activists' roles and practices regarding data infrastructure.
Chapter 4, “Crowdsourcing and Mapping Data for Humanitarianism,” delves into a specific case study that shows the complexity and potential of proactive data activism initiatives. The author presents the Ushahidi crisis mapping project, an international initiative launched by nonprofit organizations in the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake in 2010, seen through the lenses of the different academic perspectives presented in Chapter 3. Then, Gutiérrez describes the practices and roles of activists working at the Ushahidi platform and how they are linked to their identity as activists. Interestingly, she explains that a collective form of power emerged around the project, that the use of data in this case produced such a form, rather than an individualist and biased form of collaboration between activists. Finally, the author reveals some of the failures of the project in spite of its success, and the fact that it was used as a model for many other humanitarian and advocacy projects in different regions, mistrust and misinformation about how the relevance of volunteers using ICTs, vis-à-vis activists with years of experience working in the field without ICTs.
In Chapter 5, “Conclusions and Areas for Further Research,” Gutiérrez presents a definition and characterization of proactive data activism, its complexities and possibilities. She restates her main argument: Data can be exploited by activists to create alternative digital public spheres. Such a claim goes against the notion that data are only a tool for governments and corporations pursuing measures that can either be positive for citizens and consumers or seek the invasion of their privacy, as well as controlling them and misinforming them. Use of ICTs and data infrastructure in the context of data activism and humanitarianism is characterized by solidarity, collaboration, and ingenuity. To Gutiérrez, the present looks hopeful for activists, in a moment in which “individuals and groups can participate, exchange vital information and respond to humanitarian crisis quicker and more efficiently than ever before” (p. 139).
This book is the result of rigorous field work and a strong literature review. The fact that firsthand experience in journalism and digital activism permeates data collection and analysis makes it very compelling. There are some concepts that overlap or are not fully distinguished, however, and that leads to confusion, in some cases, or to the impression that the author's approach is not fully explained. ICTs and data infrastructures are used interchangeably, as well as data infrastructures and algorithms. If the author understands data infrastructures as algorithms, that definition could be more explicit and fully demonstrated. Media infrastructures refer to a wide range of technological features—we could think about the materiality of infrastructures that allow the Internet to work (undersea cables, satellites, etc.) or frame code in terms of infrastructure, among many other options. The author defines data infrastructures through the use they are given and, specifically, how they serve different interests. She doesn't incorporate in her analysis, however, existent debates that situate the use of technologies within socioeconomic, historical, and geographic contexts (I refer here to fields like global media studies or science and technology studies). In spite of the fact that her case study and theoretical insights are well situated in the specific context of academic literature on digital advocacy and humanitarianism, technology appears devoid of context, ahistorical, and disconnected from the geopolitical aspect of concrete spaces. Considering the characteristics of the technology itself and how its materiality has been shaped by different historical, social, and economic elements would have been interesting and would have complemented the author's purpose of depicting the complexity of data massive gathering via digital technologies.
ORCiD
Angela Arias-Zapata 
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6927-1832