News/Research

danah boyd on Data Voids

30 Jan, 2020

danah boyd on Data Voids

In October 2019, alum and Data & Society founder danah boyd published a Data & Society report ith Michael Golebiewski of Microsoft. Titled "Data Voids: Where Missing Data Can Easily Be Exploited," the report develops what Golebiewski coined as "data voids."

From the Data & Society website:

Michael Golebiewski of Microsoft coined the term “data void” in May 2018 to describe search engine queries that turn up little to no results, especially when the query is rather obscure, or not searched often.

In the report, boyd and Golebiewski discuss the dangers of such data voids when exploited by manipulators hoping to spread mis- and disinformation.

Learn more about data voids and read the report here.