by Ashley Carr, Reference Librarian, Associate Professor

As a librarian, I spend a lot of time looking at different sources of information, and there is one thing I have learned during my career: much of our data is bad. And unfortunately, a lot of the available research is biased or non-inclusive. Traditional forms of publication, though improving, are still primarily focused on the Western/European and largely masculine perspective.

One book that I’ve been fascinated with lately, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, discusses the impacts of these shortcomings in our foundational data through the lens of its impact on women globally. Many of the datasets we use for basic decisions are based on measurements taken from the US Military during World War II, a population younger and more male than the general population. It is astounding that some of our most basic givens, like room temperature in offices or even the design of safety equipment, when based on this limited data, can cause difficulties for women and can actually make women more vulnerable to injury or attack.

So, how do we make decisions and find global solutions when we know that our foundational data is lacking? How do we teach our students to learn about the world when we know much of the information that they come across is often exclusive of people of color, women, LGTBQIA+ people, disabled people, and other marginalized groups?

The answer is to ask: “Who’s missing? Who is not represented in this data or research? Whose voices are going unheard?”

Then we seek out those voices. We gather that data from those previously unrepresented. We design research that is more inclusive.

From the perspective of someone gathering information, we might be able to do a little bit of data gathering via interviews or surveys, but for the most part, this is going to involve seeking out existing resources that represent previously excluded people and their views. Fortunately, the internet gives some tools to help us dig deeper and find those missing perspectives.

During my year studying and working with the Global Gender Studies Faculty Learning community, I have been thinking a lot about how I would teach students to look deeper. I would, of course, want them to use the incredible library resources that ACC provides, but I also want them to seek out other sources in order to develop a more complete understanding of the issues they are researching.

From this work, I have developed a guide for students who are researching global issues, linked here. Much of the advice encourages students to look at the following types of sources to get a more complete picture:

Look beyond traditional publication streams

    • Social media posts
    • Podcasts
    • YouTube and other video services
    • Independent newspapers, online magazines, and zines

Go hyper-local

    • What does local leadership say?
    • What do local news sources say?
    • What do NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and aid organizations say?
    • What are the artists saying? The musicians? Writers?

Of course, using these types of sources requires a critical eye as well. Not all governments reflect the views of the people, some media is controlled by state interests, and one social media post may only reflect the views of the person who posted it. However taken all together with other contextual resources, it is possible to get a fuller picture of the issue at hand.

Resources

Criado Perez, Caroline. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. Abrams Press, New York, 2019.

Mars, Roman and Caroline Criado Perez. “Invisible Women.” 99% Invisible, Episode 363, 23 July 2019, https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/invisible-women/.

Carr, Ashley. Teaching Resources for Global Learning Library Guide. 2023. https://researchguides.austincc.edu/globallearning.