‘Something Important is Going on With Data’: Educators’ Search for Political Agency to Act as Professionals in Complex Datafied Contexts

Starting from the position that ‘something important is going on with data’, the role of each educators’ political agency to act within complex datafied contexts is explored. After first examining broader efforts to make sense of data, and its processing and use in social science research, the HDI elements of agency, legibility and negotiability are discussed as complementary to a critical approach to data literacy. We add to this dialogue with other educators and experts in different fields, while validating the design of an open educational resource (OER) DataPraxis, which is a website with content and analytical tools that supports educators’ pedagogical activity to cultivate and foster critical data literacies. Analysis of our conversations with these colleagues brings to light diverse efforts to develop the political agency that educators envision. Participants’ discourses shape a half-weaved tapestry with entanglements that require further attention, critical debate and collective interdisciplinary work in our collective effort to grasp the inherent complexity of the datafied present and future. The chapter thus unveils the potential of individuals’ reflexive engagement with talks, content, resources, and lively discussion through DataPraxis as a mediator between each individual’s political agency and the current data culture in which we find ourselves.