Speakers: Daniel Lynds, Sundi Richard, Brian Little, 2-3 students

As part of the Technology & Innovation division on campus, the Instructional Design team critically engages the Davidson College community in how we use our Davidson Domains spaces and how we can engage in both public and private spaces. Whether a poet, a biologist, or a cheerleader, we need to save you(r data).

Our college uses Domains extensively in very diverse ways and we continue to grow in how students, faculty, and staff share their work, hobbies, and oddities. It is a complex ecosystem of projects, but we approach them all with the first question: Is everyone okay with sharing this publicly?

From this first question we move to complicated setups that consider ethical, professional, technical, and aesthetic conversations. During our panel we will move between best practices and more complicated processes. We will get down to the nitty gritty of how frustratingly amazing brilliant people can be, yet how they seem overly open/closed to their concepts of privacy/surveillance. Nothing is binary in this context and we will engage our audience in polls to see how their environments vary.

Working collaboratively between Technology & Innovation, the Centre for Teaching and Learning, the Library, and several other departments, we will talk about our efforts to highlight the importance of data ownership, stewardship, and agency while implementing our Davidson Domains initiatives. Showcasing many projects, we will outline what value is added when casting a wide net. Sometimes low input, high impact projects can really gain trust. Sometimes a tiny project can light a fire. Our work proves this.

Our team will detail how we consult with our community with a focus on the ethics of our choices and how we include as many student voices as possible in this process. Having digital fellows (paid positions for recent graduates) as part of the conversation gives us a lifeline to a more holistic approach of understanding data concerns and innovations. Our fellows lead many vital conversations and are afforded “seats at the table” that give them voices that in most places they do not have. This is vital to who we are becoming – hearing all of the voices around Domains is helping us shape spaces closer to the ground. We also have many media consultants (first year to senior student workers) to help us gain insight into where and how to make decisions that can be far reaching.

After going over an engaging environmental scan, we will open the floor to a discussion where we will (hopefully) find mentors and mentees and other random participants with whom we can engage and start collaborative relationships with. Whether a poet, a biologist, or a cheerleader, we need to save you(r data).