We, The Data with Wendy H. Wong

As we go about our lives, we are co-creating data through what we do. And while our data-intensive world is here to stay, does it come at the cost of our humanity in terms of autonomy, community, dignity, and equality? Wendy H. Wong’s new book, We, The Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2023), calls for an extension of human rights as current policies do not reflect our experiences in the era of datafication.

On October 20, 2023, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy co-present Wong, professor of political science at UBC Okanagan and SRI faculty affiliate, in conversation with Anna Su, associate professor of law at the University of Toronto and SRI research lead, about the insights in Wong’s book. The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and reception.

About the book
A rallying call for extending human rights beyond our physical selves, We, The Data makes the case that we are all stakeholders in holding data collectors accountable–more than mere subjects or sources of data by-products that can be harvested and used by technology companies and governments. We, The Data was written with the support of SRI during Wong’s time as one of the Institute’s inaugural research leads. It has been featured in Most Anticipated: 2023 Fall Nonfiction Preview (49th Shelf) and October 2023’s Must-Read Books (Next Big Ideas Club).

Speakers
Wendy H. Wong, professor and principal’s research chair, University of British Columbia Okanagan; faculty affiliate, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Anna Su, associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto; research lead, Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Wendy H. Wong is professor and principal’s research chair at the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Department of Economics, Philosophy, and Political Science and faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto. Wong studies global governance, and is particularly attentive to how non-state actors (e.g. nongovernmental organizations, civil society actors, social movements, corporations) govern at the global and domestic levels. Her areas of interest are emerging technologies like AI and Big Data, as well as human rights and humanitarian assistance. Wong has written two award-winning books, penned dozens of peer-reviewed articles and chapters, and contributed to outlets such as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The Conversation. She has been awarded grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, among other granting agencies.

Anna Su is associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, research lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, and Nootbaar Institute fellow at Pepperdine University School of Law. Su’s primary areas of research include the law and history of international human rights law, comparative constitutional law, technology and international law, and law and religion. Su holds an SJD from Harvard Law School where her dissertation was awarded the John Laylin Prize for best paper in international law. She received her JD and AB degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. Prior to coming to Toronto, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy based in SUNY Buffalo Law School, and a graduate fellowship in ethics with the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. She worked as a law clerk for the Philippine Supreme Court and was a consultant to the Philippine government negotiating panel with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.