Data as Resistance: Feminist and Trans Interventions in Data and AI
When: Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Teams (Online)
Join us for an online panel exploring how data and AI are used to challenge gender-based violence. The panel features three presentations: Data Against Feminicide, showcasing activist-led projects documenting gender-related killings; participatory media workshops, highlighting feminist approaches to news and knowledge hierarchies; and transformative data science by trans activists, focusing on data practices that centre trans communities.
Overview
This panel brings together three presentations that explore how data, media, and technology can support activist responses to feminicide and gender-based violence through participatory and feminist approaches.
Data Activism and Participatory AI Against Feminicide
Isadora Cruxên (QMUL; DCF), Catherine D’Ignazio (MIT; DCF), Helena Suárez Val (Feminicidio Uruguay; DCF), Silvana Fumega (DCF)
This team will discuss Data Against Feminicide, a collaborative research project that works with civil society organisations and grassroots activists across the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond who produce data against the gender-related killing of cisgender and transgender women and girls. The talk will share key insights from our research about activist data epistemologies and present how we have used participatory, feminist methods to co-produce AI-based technologies that support activist data production.
Media Narratives Against Feminicide
Harini Suresh (DISCO Lab, Brown University), Yujia Gao (DISCO Lab, Brown University) and Alessandra Jungs de Almeida (Simmons University; MIT) in partnership with Data Against Feminicide
The team present a case study of designing and implementing participatory, feminist data workshops where journalists and activists annotated news articles of gender-based violence and explored how (if at all) feminist AI can support responsible reporting. They show how feminist epistemology can disrupt knowledge hierarchies and foster community-led data practices. Drawing insights from practice, they explore the tensions of applying feminist principles in data and AI work, such as prioritizing pluralism and acknowledging labor, and propose strategies on re-imagining AI development as a relational space for solidarity and care. Explore more: https://datoscontrafeminicidio.net/en/feminicide-narratives-and-ai/
Trans Activists' Transformative Data Science
Nikko Stevens (Smith College) and Amelia Lee Doğan (University of Washington)
Through an interview study with 16 trans activists working in trans-led and trans-serving organizations in the United States, we document how they use restorative/transformative data science processes of resolving, researching, recording, and refusing and using data. We incorporate their data practices with trans technology and trans competent interaction design approaches to propose a research agenda for trans data: materially improve trans lives, cross data boundaries, and constantly engage in power analysis.