By: Pranjali J Mann, News Writer
Editor’s note: The author of this article works for Dr. Wendy Chun as a research assistant. The author is not involved with the Data Fluencies Project.
Editor’s note: The article was updated on July 22, 2022 to correct the name of the Digital Democracies Institute. It was originally written as Digital Democracy Institute.
The Digital Democracies Institute (DDI) at SFU is led by Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media, Dr. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun. DDI received $6.22 million from the US-based Mellon Foundation. The funding will be directed towards their Digital Fluencies Project, according to the DDI’s press release.
In an interview with Chun, she said the institute “brings together people in the humanities, social sciences, data sciences, and network sciences, in order to take on some of the hard problems that face us such as abusive language, mis- and disinformation, polarization, discrimination, and discriminatory algorithms.”
She underlined the importance for disciplines to work together to combat disinformation. “These problems are too big for us not to try to work together to take on,” she said.
Chun pursued studies with a double major in systems design engineering and English literature from the University of Waterloo. Spending nearly 30 years in the US, Chun made the switch to SFU “in order to do this kind of institutional, large-scale work. To really make Canada the center for this kind of work.”
The funding will be used to support young researchers, graduate students, and allow collaboration with global partners. According to their press release, the team will include SFU professors Gillian Russell and Karrmen Crey, and researchers from Canada, the US, and Europe.
Chun expressed her concern on the modern state of the internet. “Part of the problem we face right now isn’t simply that the internet is a trash fire. But the internet is a trash fire, in part because people have tried to seek technical solutions to political and social problems.” She continued, “Technology isn’t the only problem because it’s rather what technology reveals about the social inequalities around us.”
The Mellon funding is directed to the three-year Data Fluencies Project and will encompass four main streams of research areas. The first stream would bring together qualitative and quantitative methods to understand “the experience of being online as well as the impact of disinformation on shutting down diverse voices.”
The second stream of the project would look into machine learning programs and investigate if they “actually address the issue it’s supposed to.” Machine learning programs include artificial intelligence and algorithms used as a solution to moderate biases, hate, and misinformation within online platforms.
The third stream of the project hopes to expand on whose voices are prioritized in digital spaces. This means working towards analyzing discrepancies in ways digital spaces disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. The final part of the grant would go towards “creating courses across the world around data fluencies, as well as research development workshops and dissertation fellowships.”
Chun is optimistic about the present and future projects underway at DDI. When receiving the Mellon funding, Chun expressed she was “thrilled to be here. Working with you and all the really wonderful students here has been very impactful.”
