Creating Data Publics for Governance explores projects from Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) where citizens interact with data through creative and cultural methods to explore understandings and relationships with place.
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK)
Under the Knowledge Mobilization Scheme, “Synthesising research on envisioning governance systems that work”.
As decision-making structures for local, regional and national governments increasingly prioritise data and evidence as resources for governance, a critical challenge facing democracies becomes the creation of public spaces in which these data can be considered and debated to enable equitable and effective governance systems.
We frame this challenge as a question of creating data publics – publics that are not only constituted by self-interest or shared identities but forged through citizens’ creative participatory engagement with data.
The project examines how creative methods are being used in practice to bring data publics into being.
We analyse examples in which artists, community organisers, and citizens engage data through creative, place-based processes. We trace when and how creative methods are employed and how they shape collective forms of participation and decision-making. In doing so, we aim to better understand how creativity functions not only as a mode of expression but as a mechanism for democratic engagement with data. This resource has two main areas:
Cases and Keywords:
To summarise and synthesis information on the creative methods these projects use in creating data publics, projects have been shared as cases. To explore the diversity of methods and enable comparison between cases, these methods were listed as keywords.
Collectons:
We developed the idea of collections to thematically explore and connect aspects of the cases. The goal for the online resource going forward is that anyone can (1) add more cases and/or (2) undertake their own thematic analysis and share these as a collection
Alongside our analysis, we have two policy briefs.
Creating Data Publics: Decision-making with Data Publics
This brief focuses on decision-making and is directed towards national, regional and local government.
Creating Data Publics: Civic Organisations and Creative and Cultural Methods
This brief focuses on creative and cultural methods and is directed towards civic and arts and cultural organisations
Project Team
Creating Data Publics for Governance is a collaboration between researchers at Simon Fraser University (Canada) and University of Southampton (UK):
- Dr Frédérik Lesage (Principal Investigator; Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University)
- Professor Dan Ashton (Co-Investigator; Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries, University of Southampton)
- Xiaosu Li (Research Assistant, Simon Fraser University)
- Shafira Rezkita Vidyamaharani (Research Assistant, Simon Fraser University)
