Abstract
Data has become a central resource shaping political economies, extracted through digital infrastructures that operate across borders and often reinforce existing inequalities. This paper examines the fragmented nature of data governance across multiple levels and argues for centering governance on data itself rather than solely focusing on platforms, algorithms, or industry compliance. To ground this analysis, the paper frames data governance within the context of data colonialism—that is, as a continuation of extractive practices that commodify human life. It then introduces 'autonomía(s)', or collective agencies, as both a counter-narrative to dominant data regimes and a praxis for 'comunalidad', or communal ways of being. This approach challenges individualistic notions of governance by embedding 'autonomía(s)' within thing assemblies and reimagines governance as the ongoing design of participatory spaces that foster collective action and critical reflection, shifting from market-driven approaches to relational frameworks grounded in shared needs.
Keywords
Data Governance; Data Colonialism; Collective Agencies or *Autonomía(s)*; Pluriversal Design; Decolonial Design; Participatory Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2025.7
Citation
Gil-Salas, P.(2025) Reclaiming ‘autonomía(s)’: Governance through design, in Brandt, E., Markussen, T., Berglund, E., Julier, G., Linde, P. (eds.), Nordes 2025: Relational Design, 6-8 August, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2025.7
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Reclaiming ‘autonomía(s)’: Governance through design
Data has become a central resource shaping political economies, extracted through digital infrastructures that operate across borders and often reinforce existing inequalities. This paper examines the fragmented nature of data governance across multiple levels and argues for centering governance on data itself rather than solely focusing on platforms, algorithms, or industry compliance. To ground this analysis, the paper frames data governance within the context of data colonialism—that is, as a continuation of extractive practices that commodify human life. It then introduces 'autonomía(s)', or collective agencies, as both a counter-narrative to dominant data regimes and a praxis for 'comunalidad', or communal ways of being. This approach challenges individualistic notions of governance by embedding 'autonomía(s)' within thing assemblies and reimagines governance as the ongoing design of participatory spaces that foster collective action and critical reflection, shifting from market-driven approaches to relational frameworks grounded in shared needs.