Everyday Data and AI Practices: A Novel Approach to Studying Workplace Computing

SPEAKER: Betsy DiSalvo, Professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech

ABSTRACT: GT DataWorks recruits and trains employees with little technical background to execute data projects for clients. Over five years, we built this participatory research platform with employees, focusing on critical data literacy, career development, and the role of data in generative AI training.  Data skills are essential across a growing range of professions, driving demand for data-centric curricula in formal and informal learning environments. Yet most educational programs fail to meet the needs of the largest group affected by this change: working adults with limited technical backgrounds. To bridge this gap and create a platform for studying data education and the data-driven workplace, we developed GT DataWorks—a data services provider embedded at Georgia Tech that executes data projects for external and internal clients. Our work explores how real-world data practices influence the preparation of datasets that fuel generative AI systems and highlights the ethical implications of such work. This talk will provide an overview of this hybrid outreach and research platform, emphasizing how employees transitioned from research subjects to active research contributors, shaping our understanding of data's role in everyday workplaces and AI training.

BIO: Dr. Betsy DiSalvo is a professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on learning sciences, participatory design, and human-centered computing. DiSalvo leads the Culture and Technology Lab (CAT Lab), where she advises students studying the intersection of culture and technology in learning, workplaces, family life, and emerging research on the production of generative AI. This research focus has resulted in award-winning educational games and two workplace environments that served as research platforms: DataWorks, a self-sustaining cost center providing data work and a way to examine technology workplaces, and Glitch Game Testers, a job program for high school students testing video games and learning foundational CS skills. Dr. DiSalvo serves on the editorial board of Transactions on Computing Education, is a member of the Computing Research Association's Widening Participation Board, and has held leadership roles in ACM and other research organizations. She has contributed to numerous art and museum projects for organizations such as the Carnegie Science Museum, the Children's Museum of Atlanta, and the Walker Art Center. Dr. DiSalvo earned her Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing from Georgia Tech in 2012. 

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IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series