Data Activism: Reviving, Extending and Upgrading Critical Citizenship Education and Consumer Rights Movements

Abstract

Considering the omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of big data as the upgraded big brother, any resistance appears to be in vain. However, pessimistic accounts usually revolve on a model of a citizen as an individual. This atomized version of citizenship underestimates the power of citizens’ social solidarity networks which can be as traditional as nuclear or extended families or as modern as professional organizations and rights movements. However, big data activism and these forms of resistance are rarely connected with each other. In this article, we discuss how to integrate already existing rights organizations with data activism. The following themes are explored for this purpose: Snowden revelations and evolution of state surveillance; digital activism and data activism; and data activism and critical citizenship education. The notion of ‘critical’ citizenship education rather than citizenship education is mobilized in our reflection, since the mainstream, official citizenship education agenda is far from addressing the negative effects of big data and associated double surveillance by the state and corporations. Contrary to a merely theoretical understanding of citizenship, data activism needs to unite its forces with already existing rights movements, including human rights and consumer rights movements as distinguishing components of a critical citizenship. The purpose of this article is to show in what ways citizenship education and consumer rights movements can be integrated and updated within the context of data activism. The introductory section provides the background for the main arguments of the article. The method of this work is critical reflection and a theoretical discussion supported by a survey of a set of relevant research papers.