Blu Lewis
“Our Data Bodies is a research and organizing initiative working at the intersection of justice and technology. We are concerned with data-driven systems and their connection to power and violence. We question Big Tech, surveillance, and the ways that tech power exacerbates racial, economic, and social injustice. Our work centers communities critiquing and resisting discriminatory technologies and surveillance infrastructures. We balance between creating knowledge, publishing research, co-developing and sharing tools of engagement, and supporting capacity building for groups on the ground.” — from the Allied Media Projects “Sponsored Projects” page
This initiative educates communities on the risks of surveillance and data exploitation, fostering community-led data control and resisting exploitative tech practices.Tech Literacy & Accessibility: Our Data Bodies equips marginalised communities with tools and strategies to understand and resist the impacts of surveillance and data exploitation. It builds tech literacy by providing educational materials that reveal how data-driven systems impact daily life, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities. This empowers individuals to engage critically with data technology that often disproportionately affects them.Reducing Harm in New Media: The project critiques harmful tech practices, such as surveillance and discriminatory algorithms, which often target marginalised communities. By challenging Big Tech’s role in perpetuating social injustices, Our Data Bodies reduces harm by creating media narratives that expose and question the negative impacts of technology, empowering communities to resist exploitative systems.Data & Knowledge Stewardship: Our Data Bodies emphasises community control over data, co-developing tools and workshops with communities to foster data sovereignty. By centring communities in the critique and redesign of data tools, the initiative exemplifies a collective stewardship model where data is not just managed by, but is shaped and protected by, those most impacted by data systems.