{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T20:25:31Z","timestamp":1777753531917,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]],"date-time":"2020-08-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1596240000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Information Services and Use"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper is based upon the closing keynote presentation that was given by danah boyd at the inaugural NISO Plus conference held from February 23\u201325, 2020 in Baltimore, MD (USA). It focuses on how data are used, and how they can be manipulated to meet specific objectives \u2013 both good and bad. The paper reinforces the importance of understanding the biases and limitations of any data set. Topics covered include data quality, data voids, data infrastructures, alternative facts, and agnotology. The paper stresses that data become legitimate because we collectively believe that those data are sound, valid, and fit for use. This not only means that there is power in collecting and disseminating data, but also that there is power in interpreting and manipulating the data. The struggle over data\u2019s legitimacy says more about our society \u2013 and our values \u2013 than it says about the data itself.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3233\/isu-200098","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,1]],"date-time":"2020-09-01T15:20:22Z","timestamp":1598973622000},"page":"259-272","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Questioning the legitimacy of data"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"40","author":[{"given":"danah","family":"boyd","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Partner Researcher, Microsoft Research, New York, NY, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-ISU-200098","volume-title":"Memory Practices in the Sciences,","author":"Bowker G.C.","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr2-ISU-200098","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226051345.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr3-ISU-200098","volume-title":"Why Data God Jeffrey Hammerbacher left Facebook to found Cloudera,","author":"Baer D.","year":"2013"},{"key":"bibr4-ISU-200098","unstructured":"Data & Society, a non-profit research organization that studies the social implications of data-centric technologies and automation, founded by danah boyd, see: https:\/\/datasociety.net\/, accessed July 4, 2020."},{"key":"bibr5-ISU-200098","volume-title":"Databite no. 93,","author":"Hammerbacher J."},{"key":"bibr6-ISU-200098","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/03637751.2017.1375130"},{"key":"bibr7-ISU-200098","volume-title":"If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future,","author":"Lepore J.","year":"2020"},{"key":"bibr8-ISU-200098","unstructured":"https:\/\/dataprivacylab.org\/people\/sweeney\/."},{"key":"bibr9-ISU-200098","unstructured":"https:\/\/virginia-eubanks.com\/."},{"key":"bibr10-ISU-200098","volume-title":"Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police and Punish the Poor,","author":"Eubanks V.","year":"2018"},{"key":"bibr11-ISU-200098","first-page":"59","volume-title":"2019 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAT*),","author":"Selbst A.D.","year":"2018"},{"key":"bibr12-ISU-200098","volume-title":"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,","author":"Alexander M.","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr13-ISU-200098","unstructured":"A primer on the topic can be found here: S. Brayne, A. Rosenblat and d. boyd, Predictive policing, in:\n                      Data & Civil Rights Conference Primer\n                      , 2015, http:\/\/www.datacivilrights.org\/pubs\/2015-1027\/Predictive_Policing.pdf, accessed July 20, 2020."},{"key":"bibr14-ISU-200098","unstructured":"Statistics of Street Drug Abuse on College Campuses \u2013 Concerning Findings, by the staff of the Recovery Village, see: https:\/\/www.addictionhope.com\/opiates\/statistics-of-street-drug-use-on-college-campuses-concerning-findings\/, accessed July 4, 2020."},{"key":"bibr15-ISU-200098","unstructured":"A primer on the topic can be found here: A. Christin, A. 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