I'm not saying data is love. But what if it was?
Dr Alex Wardrop, Senior Evaluation Specialist Historic England, CG board member and poet was our “keynote listener” at glosdataday. She dedicated her time on the day to listening. She heard what was being talked about, she noticed who was there and who wasn’t and she took notice so that she could give all those voices the opportunity to be heard. After a day of dropping into workshops and joining open space sessions Alex presented back to the room. And this is what she heard:
Alex’s listening notes
The loudest sound I heard was listening, sharing ideas and making better ones together.
Beneath the noise there was a hum of fear - of not knowing things, of knowing things too deep, of getting real, getting vulnerable, getting things wrong. The fear of not knowing what step to take next.
People were hungry for a friendly hand, a map, a compass to help make the journey just a little bit softer.
How might this group of people in this room together develop ideas, infrastructure, investment and influence to grow data knowledge, skills and courage?
Think about connection and not just causation.
Keep talking to each other. Stretch out and reach to learn from people who you think do things well - however small or big.
Data is power.
It can help you challenge the status quo. It can help you imagine other worlds. It can help make your voice louder.
Data is power.
It can oppress and violate and trap you in boxes. It can constrain and contain. It can hurt.
Data is not neutral.
It is knitted into the unequal fabric of this world. In sectors that remain hegemonic in whiteness and in class, data can miss the realities of people’s lives. We miss repeating the same story over and over again.
We need to get better at asking better and bolder questions. And we need to get better and bolder and listening to answers that might trouble what we think of as the norm.
Who collects, analyses and shares data matters. What counts as data matters. What and who doesn’t count as data matters.
Data matters.
It can make things solid. Tangible. Touching.
Play with it, like clay. Experiment. Play.
"Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within" - James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time.
I'm not saying data is love. Data has no business with something as messy and illogical as love. Data deals with facts not feelings, some say. And yet.
Data can take "off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within".
Data can connect.
Data can help you see yourself differently.
Data can take you places.
Data can break your heart.
What if we approached data with the open hearted bravery of love?
What if we met data with love?
Where could a more loving approach to data take us?
I'm not saying data is love. But what if it was?