In my opinion, the TOS… Situating personal data literacy interventions
| Date | 22 November 2023 |
| Pages | 367-388 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-06-2023-0086 |
| Published date | 22 November 2023 |
| Author | Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli,Marc Romero Carbonell,Teresa Romeu-Fontanillas |
In my opinion, the TOS...
Situating personal data literacy
interventions
Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli
Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology,
University of Padua, Padua, Italy, and
Marc Romero Carbonell and Teresa Romeu-Fontanillas
Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya,
Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –It has been demonstrated that AI-powered, data-driven tools’usage is not universal, but
deeply linked to socio-cultural contexts. The purpose of this paper is to display the need of adopting
situated lenses, relating to specific personal and professional learning about data protection and
privacy.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors introduce the results ofa case study based on a large
educational interventionat a fully online university. The views of the participantsfrom degrees representing
different knowledge areas and contexts of technology adoption (work, education and leisure) were explored
after engaging in the analysis of the terms and conditions of use about privacy and data usage. After
consultation, 27 course instructors (CIs) integrated the activityand worked with 823 students (702 of whom
were completeand correct for analytical purposes).
Findings –The results of this study indicated that the intervention increa sed privacy-conscious
online behaviour among most participants. Results were more contradictory when looking at the
tools’daily usage, with overall positive considerations around the tools being mostly needed or
“indispensable”.
Research limitations/implications –Though appliable only to the authors’case study and not
generalisable, the authors’resultsshow both the complexity of privacy views and the presence of forms of
renunciationin the trade-off betweendata protection and the need of using a specific software into a personal
and professionalcontext.
Practical implications –This study provides an example of teaching and learning activities that
supports the development of data literacy, with a focus on data privacy. Therefore, beyond the research
findings, any educator can build over the authors’proposalto produce materials and interventions aimed at
developingawareness on data privacy issues.
Social implications –Developing awareness,understanding and skills relating to data privacy is crucial
to live in a society where digitaltechnologies are used in any area of our personal and professional life. Well-
informed citizens will be ableto obscure, resist or claim for their rights whenever a violation of their privacy
takes place. Also,they will be able to support (through adoption) better quality appsand platforms, instead of
passivelyaccepting what is evident or easy to use.
© Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli, Marc Romero Carbonell and Teresa Romeu-Fontanillas. Published by
Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC
BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this
article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original
publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/
licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Personal data
367
Received29 June 2023
Revised19 October 2023
Accepted26 October 2023
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.125 No. 5/6, 2024
pp. 367-388
EmeraldPublishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-06-2023-0086
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
Originality/value –The authors specifically spot how students and educators, as part of a specific
learning and culturalecosystem, need tailored opportunities to keep on reflectingon their degrees of freedom
and their possibilitiesto act regarding evolving data systems and their alternatives.
Keywords Data protection, Privacy, Terms and conditions of use, Personal data literacy,
Socio-cultural contexts of learning
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Until recently, the debate on digital technologies in education and in human life overall
centred on the marvels made possible by their application, almost ignoring the problems
and drawbacks associated with all innovations –their dark aspects. The hidden costs of
digital technologies have become evident nowadays. Several studied problems are: the
digital divide and epistemic injustices in the infosphere to the “multitasking myth”in
the first web (Adam, 2020;Hargittai, 2003); nudge-induced information overload to the
limitations of the prosocialweb as the source of “post-truth”(Peters,2017) and the erosion of
privacy as a value (Marín et al.,2021;Prinsloo et al., 2022); the over-exposition to the screen
in terms of psychophysical health (Burr et al.,2020); and last but not least, the ecological
impact of data centres and computer hardware with the recent developments of artificial
intelligence (Selwyn, 2023). Educational policies and practices based on the distribution of
devices, teacher training and the adoption of digital tools and apps frequently failed to
achieve relevant educational aims (Sancho-Gil et al., 2020). The narratives of innovation as
“educational success”have also been deconstructed by several studies pointing out at the
subtle interests aimed at the marketisation of digital technologies by big technological
companies (Perrotta et al.,2020;Saura et al., 2021;Williamson et al.,2022). Such a strand of
research focuses on the strategiesof platformisation and datafication. These neologismsare
used to label the strategies of data extraction and algorithmic manipulation embedded in
platforms offering “take out of the shelve”educational solutions to generate “smart”
learning environments. The smart component can be connected with discourses of
personalisation,effectiveness and learning achievement in short periodsof time at a low cost
(van Dijck et al.,2018;Williamson, 2017). According to these studies, it is necessary to
rethink the role of educational technologies through participatory, contextualised
interventions that deal complexity as an inherent dimension of socio-technical systems
(Raffaghelli and Sangr
a, 2023b). Rethinking the digital on the light of complexity entails
considering technology in the respect of their human dignity and heterogeneity along
transformations that narrate a specific historic and cultural space. Some have
conceptualised this laterapproach as a “postdigital”perspective (Macgilchrist,2021). Such a
perspective acknowledges the limitations of digital systems and rejects the prevalent
position on their perfection(Knox, 2019).
In the above-mentioned context, the problem of data practices that are not transparent
and might interfere with the user’s privacy and agency has become central. If data is
collected massively and in intrusive ways, leadingto forms of manipulation or, even worse,
neglecting learners’diverse identities (Prinsloo, 2020), several levels of intervention are
necessary to deal with the problem. The educational response should cover interventions
supporting learners and educators understanding of the conundrums of data privacy, inter
alia, their ability to explore the tools’affordances; to see the spacefor negotiation about the
data collected, processed and shared throughout the technological systems; and finally, to
claim their rights to protecttheir privacy and agency.
ILS
125,5/6
368
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