Protecting Democracy’s Data | Book Talk

The United States census, conducted every ten years, is one of the world’s oldest and biggest data-making endeavors, and one of the country’s most consequential. In her urgent new book Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census, professor, researcher, and Data & Society founder danah boyd explores what it took for the Census Bureau to make the 2020 census, amid a global pandemic and natural disasters, and while navigating political forces that constrained the budget, micro-managed the schedule, and attacked statisticians’ methods. Despite these challenges, civil servants saved the 2020 census, but future censuses — and other data-making efforts related to elections, health, and the economy — are precarious.

By documenting the perspectives of government workers in Data Are Made, Not Found, boyd provides a rare glimpse into what it takes to make democracy’s data and shows clearly why protecting democracy means protecting the people and institutions that produce that data. Join us on September 23 at 1 pm ET as boyd delves into her research and its implications with historian and author Dan Bouk, in a conversation moderated by Data & Society Executive Director Janet Haven.