HKUK13003U Fri subject- Global critical data studies

As data practices become increasingly central to how we live, work, and relate to one another across the globe, we need new tools to understand their profound impact on society. Data practices are never simply neutral, objective, independent, or raw representations of the world but are situated, contingent, relational, contextual, and do active work in the world. This course invites students to explore fundamental questions about data's role in contemporary life: How are data systems shaped by their social, historical, and geographical contexts across different regions and cultures? How do algorithmic systems reproduce or challenge existing global power relations? What happens when data infrastructures actively shape rather than merely represent social reality across cultural contexts? How do different communities around the world experience, resist, and transform data practices?

This introductory course provides a comprehensive overview of critical data studies, examining how data assemblages produce, circulate, and utilize information in ways that actively shape how our world is known, governed, and lived in. Through engaging seminars and hands-on workshops, students explore key areas including transnational data governance, global political economies of data, digital sovereignty, rights and justice, and cultural practices. We investigate how data infrastructures transform institutional power across borders, shape global markets and labor relations, and influence identity and expression across diverse cultural contexts and epistemic traditions.

The course welcomes students from all disciplines who seek to understand and situate data practices. By the course's end, participants will understand how to critically analyze data regimes in their social, political, and historical contexts, while gaining crucial insights into the possibilities for more ethical, equitable and progressive data practices.