Keynote: Questioning Wikidata (wikidatacon2019)

With almost 60 million items, Wikidata is an incredible knowledge base for human and machine systems, and a testament to the power of collaborative work. But is "the wonderful world of open data" that wonderful? Drawing on their experiences as a data researcher and former Wikimedian, Os Keyes will step through the assumptions and tensions built into the theory and practice of Wikidata. In doing so, they will highlight ways in which the structure and premise of Wikidata creates spaces for harm against marginalised populations, and risks further enabling already-damaging systems of power. Os Keyes is a researcher and writer at the University of Washington, where they study gender, infrastructure and power. Their current projects cover facial recognition, critical tactics for technology, and the consequences of classification for trans lives. Their essays have been published in Slate, Real Life, Logic, and Scientific American; their papers have appeared at CHI, CSCW and other Human-Computer Interaction conferences. They are the inaugural recipient of an Ada Lovelace Fellowship. about this event: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikidataCon_2019/Program/Sessions/Keynote:_Questioning_Wikidata