Community Data Lab
The Community Data Lab introduces students to issues related to uses of data in, for, by and against local communities. Through discussions, lectures, and a series of activities, students in this project-based course consider the following questions (among others), in relation to a community of their choice:
- What data is relevant to this community? How is it used? By whom/what? Who makes these choices?
- How is data about this community collected/controlled?
- What tools are used to collect, store, organize, and use this data?
- What data is collected about this community?
Students are introduced to issues of consent and refusal, examples of data use in healthcare, social media, planning, and policy making, and tools used for decision-making and data visualization. They build their study for the semester around a chosen community, and create final projects related to data use, data defense, or translation in communities.
2020 Lab
The below exhibition of student work from the Fall 2020 community lab covers a range of issues of importance to North Carolina communities.
Mapping Durham Waste Sites: A tool for empowering Durham County residents to uncover and address local environmental injustices
by Kennedy McGuinness
Town of Chapel Hill Budget: A Guide to the General Fund
by Rachel Wood and Sophie Nachman
Triangle Farmers: 21st-Century Faces of Farming in North Carolina’s Triangle
by Hannah Jacobs and R. Dee Gladney
