About Rachel Daniell

bio

I am a researcher, data analyst, nonprofit organization professional, and interdisciplinary scholar, interested in documentation, technology, and data visualization as they intersect with human rights and historical memory.

I have worked in the nonprofit sector for over fifteen years in data systems, project management, research, and writing, primarily in human rights advocacy, as well as been a consultant for academic research and publishing projects. I hold a PhD in Anthropology from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and MS in Data Analytics and Visualization with Advanced Certificate in Spatial Analysis and Design from the School of Information at Pratt Institute. I teach part-time as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Data Analysis and Visualization MS program at The Graduate Center, CUNY and as a Lecturer in the Pratt Institute GIS & Design Certificate Program. I contribute work to support projects of the Forensic Border Coalition related to issues of death of people in migration at the southwestern US border, the research work of Pratt Institute’s Laboratory for Integrated Archaeological Visualization and Heritage (LIAVH), and the curatorial work of Data Through Design.

My passion is to work on projects examining the everyday practices with data, metadata structures, and documents that can contribute to the visibility of human rights violations, understandings of underrepresented histories, and future imaginaries grounded in social justice.

Further background on my professional and academic work is outlined on LinkedIn, Google Scholar, and Academia.edu. I can be reached at rdaniell[at]gradcenter.cuny.edu or rdaniell[at]pratt.edu. I always welcome connecting with scholars, artists, techs, advocates, and practitioners working around similar interests.

Current Research Interests:

Information architecture’s role in knowledge production; critical cartography; data visualization and data-driven storytelling; temporality and spatiality; “forensic chronotopes”; visualization of “fuzzy” and varying-precision data;  qualitative mapping; social memory;  representation of space and place at borders/boundaries; forms of documentation; human rights, civil rights, and social justice.