Exercises: Your Responsibility — From Knowledge to Action

These exercises are integrative and reflective, drawing on the full arc of the textbook. Estimated completion time: 3-4 hours.

Difficulty Guide: - ⭐ Foundational (5-10 min each) - ⭐⭐ Intermediate (10-20 min each) - ⭐⭐⭐ Challenging (20-40 min each) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Advanced/Research (40+ min each)

Part A: Integration and Reflection ⭐

These questions ask you to integrate concepts across the entire textbook.

A.1. The chapter identifies five archetypes of data practice: the Naive Technicist, the Righteous Critic, the Pragmatic Insider, the Strategic Advocate, and the Principled Practitioner. For each archetype, identify one character from the textbook who exemplified it at some point and describe the strengths and limitations of that archetype.

A.2. Dr. Adeyemi says: "Ethics is not a decision you make in a crisis. It is a character you build over a career." Explain what she means, using at least two examples from the textbook of professionals who either built ethical character over time or failed to.

A.3. The four-thread diagnostic (Power Asymmetry, Consent Fiction, Accountability Gap, Ethical Debt) is presented as a portable analytical framework. Select any data system you use daily (a social media platform, a university LMS, a banking app, a ride-share service) and apply the four-thread diagnostic to it. Be specific about what you find.

A.4. The Practitioner's Oath includes eight provisions. Identify the provision you believe is most important and the provision you believe is most difficult to practice consistently. Explain your reasoning.

A.5. The chapter argues that "knowledge creates obligation." Do you agree? Is there a meaningful difference between someone who harms a data subject out of ignorance and someone who harms a data subject despite knowing better? What ethical framework from Chapter 6 supports your position?

A.6. Trace Mira's arc from Chapter 1 to Chapter 40. What was her starting position (the Naive Technicist)? What events and insights changed her? What is her final position (the Principled Practitioner)? What does her arc illustrate about how data ethics understanding develops?

A.7. Trace Eli's arc from Chapter 1 to Chapter 40. What was his starting position (the Righteous Critic)? What events and insights changed him? What is his final position (the Strategic Advocate)? What does his arc illustrate about the relationship between critique and action?

Part B: Applied Analysis ⭐⭐

Integrative scenarios drawing on multiple chapters.

B.1. You are a junior data analyst at a mid-size company. You discover that the company's customer segmentation algorithm, which determines pricing for different customer groups, systematically charges higher prices to customers in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Your manager says: "The algorithm is working as designed — it's based on credit risk scores, which happen to correlate with demographics. That's the data, not our intent." Using concepts from Chapters 14, 15, 17, and 40, analyze this situation. What would the Practitioner's Oath require you to do? What would Mira do? What would Eli do?

B.2. A hospital system is considering deploying VitraMed's predictive analytics system (now reformed under Mira's governance framework) to predict patient deterioration in its ICU. The hospital's ethics committee asks you to evaluate the system. Drawing on the VitraMed thread across the textbook, identify the five most important governance questions you would ask before recommending deployment.

B.3. You are advising a small city government that wants to implement "smart city" technology (traffic sensors, air quality monitoring, pedestrian counting). The city has limited budget and limited technical staff. Drawing on Chapters 1, 8, 10, 32, 38, and 39, design a data governance plan for the city. Your plan should address: data collection, storage, access, community participation, oversight, and sunset provisions.

B.4. A friend tells you: "I don't care about data privacy. I have nothing to hide, and the services I get in exchange for my data are worth it." Drawing on the full arc of this textbook (Chapters 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 36), construct a thoughtful, non-condescending response. What are the strongest three arguments you can make?

B.5. Sofia Reyes tells a group of students: "Data governance is not a field for the comfortable. It requires you to challenge power — and power does not like being challenged." Using examples from the textbook (including Frances Haugen, Timnit Gebru, Christopher Wylie, and the characters of this textbook), discuss the costs and rewards of challenging power in data governance.

Part C: Practitioner Identity ⭐⭐-⭐⭐⭐

These exercises ask you to develop your own professional identity as a data practitioner.

C.1. ⭐⭐ Personal Ethics Statement. Using the framework from Section 40.5, write your own personal data ethics statement (300-500 words). Include: (a) your core values (ranked), (b) the ethical framework(s) that ground them, (c) your red lines, (d) your anticipated pressure points, and (e) your support structures.

C.2. ⭐⭐ Four-Thread Audit. Conduct a four-thread audit of a data system at your university, workplace, or in your community. For each thread (Power Asymmetry, Consent Fiction, Accountability Gap, Ethical Debt), identify a specific manifestation. Write a one-page report with findings and recommendations.

C.3. ⭐⭐⭐ Data Ethics Portfolio Outline. Design the structure of a data ethics portfolio that you would use to demonstrate your commitment and competence to a future employer. Identify five specific items you would include, why each demonstrates ethical practice, and how you would develop each over the next two years.

C.4. ⭐⭐⭐ Civic Engagement Plan. Identify three specific actions you can take in the next 12 months to participate in data governance as a citizen (not a professional). For each action, specify: what you will do, what governance question it addresses, what outcome you hope to achieve, and what obstacles you anticipate. Actions might include: exercising your data rights under applicable law, submitting public comments on technology policy proposals, supporting a digital rights organization, or organizing a data literacy workshop.

C.5. ⭐⭐⭐ Practitioner's Oath Revision. Read the Practitioner's Oath from Section 40.8 carefully. Then write your own version — keeping provisions you endorse, revising those you would change, and adding any provisions you believe are missing. Write a 200-word reflection explaining the most significant changes you made and why.

Part D: Synthesis & Critical Thinking ⭐⭐⭐

These questions require you to think across the entire course and develop original positions.

D.1. The textbook presents data governance as primarily a social and political challenge, not a technical one. Not everyone agrees — some argue that technical solutions (encryption, differential privacy, federated learning) are more reliable than legal or institutional governance because they are harder to circumvent. Write a 500-word essay evaluating the claim that "code is law" — that technical architecture is a more effective form of governance than legal architecture. Draw on at least three specific examples from the textbook.

D.2. The textbook's four recurring themes (Power Asymmetry, Consent Fiction, Accountability Gap, Ethical Debt) were developed to analyze existing data systems. Evaluate whether these four themes are adequate for analyzing emerging technologies (Chapter 38). Are there additional themes needed for quantum computing, BCIs, ambient IoT, and digital twins? If so, propose one additional theme and explain why it is needed.

D.3. The textbook has been written primarily from a Western, English-language perspective (acknowledged explicitly in Chapter 37). How does this perspective shape the analysis? What would a textbook written from a Global South perspective emphasize differently? Identify three specific topics or frameworks that would be more prominent in a non-Western data governance textbook.

D.4. Dr. Adeyemi's final question — "What is your responsibility?" — is left unanswered in the text. Answer it. In 500-750 words, articulate what you believe your responsibility is as someone who has completed this course. Be specific about actions, not just values. Ground your answer in concepts from the textbook, but make it genuinely yours.

Part E: Capstone Projects ⭐⭐⭐⭐

These are the three capstone projects described in Section 40.9. Each is a substantial independent project.

E.1. Capstone Project 1: Data Ethics Audit. Conduct a comprehensive ethical audit of a real data system (a mobile app, a workplace algorithm, a municipal sensor network, a university data practice, or a commercial data product). Your audit should apply the four-thread diagnostic, at least three ethical frameworks from Chapter 6, relevant legal frameworks, and specific governance recommendations. Target length: 3,000-5,000 words.

E.2. Capstone Project 2: Governance Proposal. Design a data governance framework for a real organization or community. Your proposal should include: a stakeholder analysis, a governance structure (drawing on the models from Chapters 22, 26, and 39), specific policies for data collection, consent, access, retention, and deletion, a participatory governance mechanism, and an implementation timeline. Target length: 3,000-5,000 words.

E.3. Capstone Project 3: Policy Brief and Speculative Design. Write a policy brief on a current data governance challenge (2,000 words), then create a speculative design artifact (design fiction, experiential scenario, or backcasting exercise) that imagines how the challenge could be resolved by 2040 (1,000-2,000 words). The policy brief should be grounded in evidence and legal analysis; the speculative design should expand the governance imagination.

Solutions

Selected solutions are available in appendices/answers-to-selected.md.