Missing in action: queer(y)ing the educational implications of data justice in an age of automation

In the recent Australian 2021 census, the socio-technical construct of algorithmically driven decision-making processes made LGBTQI+ data as a category of diversity, inclusion and belonging an absent presence. In this paper, we position the notion of 'data justice' in relation to the entrenchment of inequalities and exclusion of LGBTQI+ lives and consider the implications of LGBTQI+ data being missing in action. As we look at the notion of 'data justice', we Chonody, J. M., Mattiske, J., Godinez, K., Webb, S., & Jensen, J. (2020). How did the postal vote impact Australian LGBTQ+ residents?: Exploring well-being and messaging. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 32(1), 49-66. consider five critical socio-technical imaginaries with different kinds of data to think through the implications of technical democracy, data justice and post-automation. Finally, we consider the imaginary of citizenship when LGBTQI+ data is habitually missing in action from systematic power integrated into forms of governance. This paper positions 'data' not as a static 'object or process' but as a dynamic ecology that carries with it a multi-faceted set of coded meanings requiring constant review and reconsideration.