Data Destruction

A collaborative workshop between DALOSS (UCPH) and Echo Lab (DTU).

Have you ever thought about what it means to destroy digital data? Or what happens to data when it is supposedly “deleted,” “destroyed,” or otherwise discarded? Do you know what types of data deletion and destruction practices have emerged in the wake of digitalisation? Or are you interested in questions of how we relate to data that is destroyed, how the loss of data is felt or experienced, or how the violent act of destruction can itself - in some instances - constitute an act of care?

It is our pleasure to invite you to a workshop on data destruction at DTU’s Echo Lab.

Programme

We will have talks (incl. in plenum discussions and Q&As) dedicated to the theme of data destruction and “media sanitisation” from Walther Starup-Jensen, security consultant at the Danish Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet), Amalie Lange from DTU on the problem of stigma in (and deletion of) patient data, and Frederik Schade, from the DALOSS project on the challenge of locating practices of data destruction in situated fieldwork.

The climax of the day occurs after lunch, however, as we engage together in a collective ritual of data destruction. For the purposes of this ritual, we kindly ask attendees to bring an old data storage device (e.g., hard drive, USB, CD, flobby disk, or the like) that you would like to sacrifice. The ritual serves as a hands-on experience with data destruction, an opportunity to reflect on its affective and relational dimensions, as well as to discuss the materialities and politics of data destruction in increasingly digitalised societies where such hardware destruction is both normal and prevalent.

After this ritual we will conclude the day with further discussions, reflections, and, of course, socialising and hygge!

Registration

Please sign up by writing to frsc@hum.ku.dk. 

We hope to see you.