Formal Critical Reflection: Defining Data and Doing Data Advocacy


  Domain: Understanding Data
  Subdomain: Defining Data
  Type of Resource: Assignment

This two-part formal critical reflection asks students to write a 5-7 page essay in which they a.) reflect back on their learning about data feminism, rhetorical data studies, and an equity framework and forward their own understandings of data, the data life cycle, and best practices for doing data advocacy; b.) apply learning to describe and analyze a data advocacy website; and c.) reflect on how this learning prepares them to do data advocacy.


Please write a 5-7 page formal reflection in which you a.) reflect back on your learning in this module and articulate what you have learned about data, the data life cycle, and best practices for doing data advocacy; and b.) apply this learning to analyze and comment on a contemporary enactment of data advocacy called Mapping Police Violence.

This reflection has been divided into two parts. In writing your reflection, please make sure to attend to the questions posed below for each respective section. Note: Your tone may be casual in this reflection, but please write a substantive reflection that demonstrates deep understanding of the concepts, ideas, and frameworks covered in this module.

Part 1:

Revisit Journal Entry 1 and your prior conceptions about data. Reflect upon and write about where your thinking is now regarding what data is. What new or altered definition of data might you now offer? How has your perception of data changed? And why is this newer conception important to your understanding of doing data advocacy?

Please also identify how you understand the data life cycle and its relevance to doing data advocacy. Along the way be sure to identify some of the best practices for doing data advocacy that you think are most important.

Part 2:

Please refamiliarize yourself with the three interconnected frameworks we covered during this module: data feminism, rhetorical data studies, a data equity framework. Drawing on concepts, ideas, lessons, and commitments gained from the readings about each of these frameworks, analyze and comment on We the Protestor’s Mapping Police Violence Project, which is part of their Campaign Zero Project.

For your analysis, be sure to investigate We the Protestors and goals of the Campaign Zero project; read the description about the project (link at bottom of homepage) and consider the context in which this project was produced; learn about the research and resources, read about the methodology, and check out the data set (links at top of home page), and, of course, peruse the data visualizations (on the home page). As you study this project, put the three frameworks you learned about during this module to work to analyze the Mapping Police Violence Project. Pay close attention to:

  • the designers’ exigence, audience, and purpose;
  • what kinds of data were generated and how they were collected, analyzed, and presented;
  • the multimodal choices and appeals made to produce the data advocacy website;
  • what information was made salient and what information was excluded;
  • whose voices and concerns were prioritized;
  • how the designers negotiated the visual politics of accountability;
  • how the designers attended to the data life cycle;
  • and how the designers made (or did not make) ethical choices all along the way.

Based on both your analysis and drawing on ideas, concepts, and lessons from the readings, how would you describe and evaluate the Mapping Police Violence project? Does this project enact best practices for doing data advocacy that you learned about during this module? How so or how not? Be specific! Also, what can be learned about doing data advocacy from this project that you might not have previously considered? Be specific!