Data Ethics

The course covers critical and ethical questions related to the use and interpretation of data in the contexts of research and organisations. The first part of the course introduces basic ethical issues and approaches, and students develop a use-oriented understanding of current ethical problems in data analysis. The second part of the course includes discussion of several legal frameworks and industry-specific guidelines in order for students to consider data analysis in relation to the perspectives of different involved parties and understand how data is constructed socially. Students are also introduced to discourses regarding bias in socio-technological systems, the openness and division of responsibilities of algorithms, ideological aspects of data, information asymmetries, and the political economy of data. In the final part of the course, this knowledge is applied to a concrete area of study, focused on the question of how the advantages of data analysis could benefit a more democratic and sustainable development of society beyond established views of effectiveness as a result of automation and rationalisation.