Associate Professor Catherine D'Ignazio of MIT, a tenured member of the university's Department of Urban Studies and Planning and director of the Data and Feminism Lab is reshaping how we understand the collection and use of data in social contexts. She raises critical questions about the origins of data, the methodologies behind its collection, and the disparities in what is represented in data infrastructures. D'Ignazio is particularly noted for her work with disenfranchised communities, leveraging data to illuminate civic problems and empower those affected by them.
Her recent work, centered on the overlooked crisis of feminicide, involves the development of AI tools to aid human rights defenders in Latin America. Through fierce collaboration, these tools help activists to counter incomplete official records by establishing comprehensive databases, thus shedding light on gender-based violence. As reported in a MIT News interview, "When we talk about innovation, I think: Innovation for whom? And by whom? For me those are key questions," D'Ignazio said.
D'Ignazio's intellectual journey took flight with diverse academic and professional experiences, ranging from international relations to software development, and ultimately converging at the MIT Media Lab where she earned her SM. Her holistic perspective on data's role in society, sharpened over time, has manifested in her co-authored pioneering work, "Data Feminism." The book explores the societal structures mirrored in data, exemplified by her investigation into college sexual assault reporting which can be obfuscated by institutional practices.
Engagement with students feeds into the virtuous cycle of innovation that D'Ignazio fosters at MIT. As noted by MIT News, one of her students, Wonyoung So, delves into housing data disparity issues, highlighting the severe asymmetries between what landlords can learn about tenants, versus the often scant information tenants have on landlords. "There are all of these technologies that allow landlords to get almost every piece of information about tenants but, there are so few technologies allowing tenants to know anything about landlords," D'Ignazio detailed.
