Conferencias magistrales > The Data Workers’ Inquiry

Panelists: Milagros Miceli (Weizenbaum-Institute, DAIR, TU Berlin), Camilla Salim Wagner (Weizenbaum Institute / TU Berlin), Adio Dinika (DAIR), Krystal Kauffman (DAIR / Turkopticon), Alexis Chavez, Oskarina Fuentes

Title: The Data Workers’ Inquiry: Recentering Workers’ Epistemic Authority 

The Data Workers’ Inquiry merges knowledge production with on-the-ground impact by centering workers as the source of epistemic authority and central agents of social change. The project is organized by scholars within research institutions who invite data workers, i.e., those who produce the data that fuels AI systems, to join as co-researchers. The co-researchers define research questions and lead investigative processes in their workplaces. By recognizing workers as experts, the project challenges traditional hierarchies of knowledge and centers the lived experiences of otherwise marginalized groups, shifting the focus of knowledge production. 

In this panel, the project team will discuss methodological aspects and explore the limitations of the Workers’ Inquiry approach. The panel will include two data workers and project co-researchers from Venezuela and Colombia, who will delve into data work tasks, labor conditions, collaboration, and organization in the Latin American context. Together, they will discuss findings and explore resistance strategies, paths forward, and academic efforts to enhance workers’ empowerment and epistemic authority within complex knowledge/power networks.