Sensitive Data Donation

Abstract

Our routine interactions with connected products and services result in the collection and indefinite storage of personal digital-trace data. These data are increasingly entangled with our lives. What we experience is scattered around multiple data points: our browsing history can account for our interests and worries, our messaging logs can account for our social relationships, and our purchase history can account for our dietary preferences. Digital-trace data is increasingly valuable for scientific research as it can offer insights into specific aspects of our daily experiences. Researchers across various disciplines have been developing methods and tools to access these data. One of these, and the focus of this thesis, is data donation. In this thesis, I develop alternative data donation approach informed by the principles of Data Feminism. This approach, called Sensitive Data Donation, aims to empower donors to know and care for their data and promotes different forms of knowledge and participation. It is directed at intimate research contexts, such as the home and the body, which are inherently private and situated spaces where it is crucial to explore and negotiate people's relationships with their data.