Motivation to Teach Social Action:
My research on digital media, environmental justice, and science communication directly aligns with the experiential social action model. I am committed to teaching students how real-world campaigns can mobilize data-driven evidence and community engagement to demand institutional accountability for environmental hazards. This Institute will help me design a rigorous, semester-long course where students launch authentic campaigns on issues like water contamination, energy justice, and algorithmic transparency—moving beyond traditional classroom analysis to develop tangible change-making skills grounded in justice frameworks.
Course Description:
How can data tell stories – and who gets to tell them? This course examines the use of scientific, technical, and experiential knowledge in policy-making and planning through a social science lens. Students will explore how data systems both advance and reinforce inequities, and how planners and policymakers can engage data as an expressive, participatory medium. The course culminates in a "Data Art Rage" showcase, a public-facing exhibition of data-driven policy storytelling through visual, performative, or interactive media. This would be the social action component of the class.
Taught By:
Shumaila Bhatti
Postdoctoral Researcher and Adjunct Lecturer
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, School of Public and International Affairs
Virginia Tech
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