Data Ethnographies Lab Position Paper II 1 How to reference this paper: Pink, S., A. Markham, Y. Akama, E. Gómez Cruz, P. Lacasa, M. Poblet, S. Sumartojo (2016) DATA ETHNOGRAPHIES (2): Ethics and data futures. Available online at https://dataethnographies.com/paper-ii- ethics-and-data-futures/ DATA ETHNOGRAPHIES (2): ethics and data futures Sarah Pink, Annette Markham, Yoko Akama, Edgar Gomez Cruz, Pilar Lacasa, Marta Poblet, Shanti Sumartojo In this Data Ethnographies position paper we outline our agenda for approaching the relationship between ethics and data futures. The paper is based on our second data ethnographies workshop which brought together a group of colleagues whose work interfaces around ethnographic practice, design and ethnographic futures research, internet ethics and digital privacy, and personal data. Two key issues were at the centre of our discussions: first how ethnographic approaches to data can enable and might also call for new thinking about ethics and futures; and second how we confront the questions of the ethics and temporality of ethnographic research in data-worlds. The session was prefaced by Position Paper 1 - personal data in an uncertain world - which put forward the argument for a data ethnographies approach. The first paper set the ground through a discussion of how it feels to live in a world of data, and the unique positioning and capability of ethnography to create new insights and understandings that contest and situate assumptions about how data can stand for individuals or society. Defining Data Much existing discussion about data concerns questions of surveillance, fear of the loss of privacy, or the idea that data does (or can) permeate, report on, or influence all domains of our lives. As danah boyd and Kate Crawford expressed in early discussions about ‘Big Data’: Like other socio-technical phenomena, Big Data triggers both utopian and dystopian rhetoric. On one hand, Big Data is seen as a powerful tool to address various societal ills, offering the potential of new insights into areas as diverse as cancer research,