Overview:
This project originated in May 2020 with the numerous calls for the collection of disaggregated data along multiple axes of identity, many of which were amplified by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This includes calls to collect race-based data; sex-disaggregated data; data including Indigenous communities; those who are differently-abled; and those in the LGBTQI/2S community; among others. Less well understood or addressed are the ways in which this kind of data collection fails to incorporate the social construction of race as a category; the politics of collecting identity-disaggregated data; the ways in which context can be stripped from datasets; the effects of surveillance on populations and communities; and how public citizens might be called into these activities on a voluntary basis. Some of these latter concepts might be held under a “data justice” conceptual umbrella in which “…fairness in the way people are made visible, represented and treated as a result of their production of digital data is necessary to determine ethical paths through a datafying world” (Taylor, 2017).
To explore the many follow-up questions arising from the increasing need to collect data and the ways in which community organizations might go about this work, the Gender+ in Research Collective (UBC ORICE) launched a research “engagementship” in which multiple cohorts, building on each others’ work, addressed a number of questions related to data justice and community-based research, and how community organizations might engage with these concepts.
Three cohorts have now worked with us on this project, attending teach-ins, workshops, and conducting their own research on how the concepts of intersectionality and data justice are engaged in community-originated research. The work of the first three cohorts has now coalesced into a ‘community guide’ for organizations to consult as they begin a data collection endeavour.
Recruitment for this, the fourth cohort of this project, seeks to push this community guide forward into a tangible, well-designed guide, developed using relevant knowledge translation and user-centered design frameworks.
We are looking for the creatives and knowledge translators out there: to come up with interesting examples that community organizations might engage with as they use this guide; to visualize what the guide might look like; to design the guide; to user test it with community organizations; and to re-design where necessary. We are open to this guide taking many and perhaps multiple forms: a website; videos or podcasts on certain sections; a pdf or printable format; or something we haven’t even thought of yet!
Scope:
Building on the work of cohorts 1, 2, and 3, this project will begin by doing a sweeping review of the guide in its current form — not for content, but with design in mind. We are looking to translate what we have, in text form, to something beautiful, usable, accessible, and interesting!
Over 12 weeks from May 17th to August 6th, a team of 4-5 students will spend 4-6 hours each week to think through how the already-developed guide might be best designed to fit numerous community organizations, to achieve maximum accessibility, and to tell a coherent example story throughout to walk the user through a data collection process.
To conduct this work, students will be asked to engage in various activities, including but not limited to, participating in weekly scheduled calls, and potentially relevant webinars and teach-ins. We will ask students to co-lead this project, achieving multiple milestones throughout in refining relevant examples, drafting the various deliverables (as determined: videos, podcasts, a website, a printable guide), and to conduct user testing with community organizations.
It is important to note that this is cohort #4 of a project which will likely involve 5 phases. Students, therefore, should not expect to complete the project at this stage of the process. Rather, a key outcome is to ensure clarity of the guide, to centre users in the design, and to move forward the process of visualizing the guide beyond its current form.
Deliverables:
At the end of the 12-week period, students will be asked to give a short, 20-30 minute presentation to the Gender+ in Research Collective to present the final deliverables of accessible, user-centred assets, and on the process that they undertook to transform the content they had been provided into the final deliverable. As a general guide, students in this cohort will be asked to confirm the format of the deliverables by week 4, prototype deliverables by week 8, user test by week 10 and finalize by week 12.
As mentioned above, this is cohort #4 of a five-part project: students in this phase will complete the design of the community guide by critically engaging with the work of cohorts 1-3, and by bringing knowledge translation and creative design skills to the team.
While the program’s facilitators have drafted program structure and suggested milestones for the project, students will be given the flexibility to co-design and modify their final outcomes as they deem relevant and in coordination with ORICE project managers.
Academic integration:
Please note this is a not-for-credit unpaid opportunity. If you are interested in making this a student-directed study course, please contact ubc.orice@ubc.ca to discuss the process to explore this option.
Anti-Racism and Ethics of Engagement:
The Gender+ in Research Collective and the Office for Regional and International Community Engagement (UBC ORICE) are committed to embedding anti-racism in our daily work and ongoing projects. Students are encouraged and expected to consider how they can take an anti-racist lens to the work they produce around citizen science, data collection and use, and connections between community-based organizations, academics, and government. This might include, but is not limited to, ensuring the incorporation of the ongoing and often unrecognized work of organizations advocating for justice for minorities, particularly during the pandemic; or engaging with the politics of citation in including and citing the work of non-white scholars and other researchers.
Eligibility
- Be an undergraduate or graduate student (domestic or international) at the University of British Columbia with 60 or more completed credits as of May 1st, 2021. (Note: recent grads are welcome to apply but priority will be given to current undergraduate students);
- Have access to a reliable internet connection and computer to collaborate with peers and attend all meetings remotely;
- Demonstrate ability to think critically and creatively;
- Prior creative design skills an asset
- Experience with knowledge translation and/or user-centred design is an asset.
- Prior knowledge about or interest in data justice, gender intersectionality, and community-based data collection initiatives is an asset, but not necessary.
Timeline:
- Deadline: April 25, 2021 @ 11.59pm PST
- Successful shortlisted candidates contacted by: April 30, 2021
- Short interviews by: May 11, 2021
- Project dates: May 17th – August 6th, 2021
How to apply:
We are no longer accepting applications for this opportunity. Follow us on social media (@ubc_orice) to find out about future program offerings!
Please reach out to us at ubc.orice@ubc.ca if you have any questions.
About the Gender+ in Research Collective:
The Gender+ in Research Collective works to promote a community for rich dialogue in which gender and other intersections, including race, Indigeneity, class, sexuality and ability (among other intersections of identity), are considered when conducting community-based research. The Collective focuses on capacity building and providing the tools researchers need to utilize a gender+ lens. The Collective is housed within and supported by the UBC Office for Regional and International Community Engagement (UBC ORICE).
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Taylor, L. (2017). What is data justice? The case for connecting digital rights and freedoms globally. Big Data & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717736335
The Gender+ in Research Collective acknowledges that we organize, research, and learn on unceded traditional xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory. We understand that both gender and research have been used as tools of colonization on these lands, and commit to working towards disentangling gender+ research from colonialism and Indigenous genocide.