When humans become data

In this chapter, I examine what and whom we imagine to be protecting when we use the language of ethics and transparency to describe research. How does the imagination of humans as data inform different approaches to transparency and ethics in research? I draw from my experiences in negotiating about data transparency with a funding agency to reflect on how different temporalities and spaces of research and violence alike inform interpretations of our responsibilities toward research interlocutors. The goal of the chapter is to synthesize recent research to advance an alternate orientation of transparency, away from a conceptualization informed by liability or “checkbox” compliance and toward a practice of reflexive openness.