GeoTechE: Introduction to Geotechnology Ethics

This new module is Critical Remote Sensing. It is an introduction to an emerging field that seeks to challenge the perceived objectivity of remotely sensed data and to highlight the social and ethical implications of remote sensing.

The first unit, Introducing Critical Remote Sensing, explains remote sensing and why a critical perspective is necessary. Such a perspective recognises the political nature of the production and analysis of satellite data.

Next, you will learn about the subjectivities embedded in what's known as the Satellite Gaze and the implications of this gaze. Here, you will consider how biases can be introduced into the data technology lifecycle and the unequal relations of power involved in the 'act of seeing'.

In The Political Economy of Remote Sensing, you will gain a deeper understanding of the key players in satellite data production and consumption and the inequalities surrounding data access.

Next, in the Reading against the pixel unit, you will consider how satellite data would typically be studied, reflect on alternative perspectives, and how to engage other datasets and types of knowledge.

As well as critiquing satellite data, in the final unit, Practices, applications and Ethics of Critical Remote Sensing, you will learn how we can critically use remotely sensed data to expose injustices, engage different forms of knowledge, and empower marginalised communities.

By participating in this module, you will gain a deeper understanding of how remote sensing technologies are embedded in systems and relations of power and come away equipped with the tools to do critical remote sensing yourself.

This module is Everyday Geodata Ethics. It contains three units: Individual Modes of Engagement, Collective Modes of Engagement, and Counter-mapping.

In these units, you will explore critical issues surrounding power dynamics and ethical considerations in the realm of geographic data and consumer technologies that shape our daily lives.

The first unit begins by outlining some key ethical concerns, such as privacy and security - both from a legal and ethical standpoint, as well as agency and equity – taking into account how the effects of data are unevenly distributed across society.

As you progress, you will gain insights into the valuation and utilisation of user geographic data in the marketplace, unravel the workings of targeted advertising, and understand the pivotal role users play as data producers.

The unit then explores several individual modes of engagement with data production and collection, ranging from 'acceptance' to 'active resistance', 'making present', and 'escape'.

The second unit will explore collective modes of engagement, including data regulation and 'drifting' —a semi-intentional exploration of space to identify places for solidarity or change.

Discover the power of detournement to repurpose data for political and cultural ends, exploring examples from art to counter-mapping. Uncover the concept of data strikes, where coordinated withholding of user data impacts company profits to drive positive change, exemplified by the #DeleteUber movement.

Throughout the course, you will be invited to reflect on the context framing these concerns and how factors of privilege and status affect the feasibility of a particular mode of engagement.

By the end, you will emerge equipped with a nuanced understanding of the power dynamics and ethical considerations surrounding these everyday technologies, ready to critically engage with and influence the evolving landscape in which they're embedded.

This new unit further explores some of the topics brought up in the previous unit, specifically how mapping can be used to empower individuals and communities traditionally on the margins of power. It presents both digital and analogue methods to enact social and environmental change to challenge traditional narratives.

You will learn some tips for embarking on a counter-mapping project (and when not to), as well as becoming familiar with some of the ethical concerns that need to be considered.

An introduction to some of the issues of power and ethics involving data and consumer technologies in everyday life, including:

• Privacy – legally and ethically 
• Security – who has data access? 
• Agency – Who exerts control over their data? 
• Equity – effects of data are not felt equally across all of society

• How user geographic data is valued and used in the marketplace
• How targeted advertising works
• The role of a user as a data producer 

The first two individual modes of engagement:

• Acceptance: agreeing to End User License Agreements, which shape what is legally permissible for the company. The asymmetrical power relation between the user and the provider of the service.
• Active resistance: Examples of how users can impede or assert greater control over the production or extraction of their personal data.  

The second two modes of engagement:

• Making present: Examples of responses which attempt to make mechanisms of data production, extraction and analysis legible and understandable e.g physical infrastructure.
• Escape: Examples of steps that elude data creation and extraction and how they are dependent on ones' privilege and position in society.

An introduction to collective modes of engagement with data production and extraction.

The first mode of engagement:  

• Data regulation: the laws seeking to protect personal geodata. But this is not enough to be ethical. There is also a need for cultural change.

• Drifting: being aware of and learning about the structure and possibilities of a space while moving through it in a semi-intentional, exploratory manner, with the intention of identifying material frameworks and promising sites for solidarity or change.  

Some methods for doing a data drift, and some guiding questions when looking at location history. 

Examples of some of the absurd assumptions that come from your location history .

• The meaning of detournement: modifying or disassembling a piece of art or media for revolutionary purposes
• Examples of art.
• A version of detournement that extends beyond art to data, repurposing data for political ends and culturally savvy ways  
• Uses of detournements, including counter-maps  
• Example of Iranian smartphone app; counter-cartographies collective 
• Some of the ethical considerations: privacy 

Data strikes: an adapted version of a traditional workers strike, which is denying labour to extract concession from management. Data strikes involving coordinating withholding user data to impact company profits to force them to make changes.

Difference between strike and boycott.

Effects of withholding data.

Example of a data strike: #DeleteUber

Challenges to a data strikes: 

• Costs to strikers 
• Coordination and organization 

• Conclusions
• Summary of the unit