Data Flourishing: Developing Human‐Centered Data Science through Communities of Ethical Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACTData Science is a burgeoning area in the iField. But Data Science practices have far outstripped the field's ethical safeguards. We argue that Data Science graduate education programs must address this critical problem. In this theoretical and conceptual paper, we posit an ordinary macroethics that we call data flourishing. We contend that this macroethics is most appropriately developed through a holistic, human‐centered data science (HCDS)‐based pedagogy that concentrates on cultivating communities of ethical practice (COEPs) through social learning. We favor embedding this macroethics throughout iField programs' graduate data science curricula and by extension, the entire data science education enterprise. This paper aligns with the 2023 ASIS&T annual meeting theme of translating research into practice, particularly the subthemes of “improving decision‐making” and “understanding the power of information to develop human happiness, equality, and wellbeing.”