“Data is the new oil” has been a ubiquitous metaphor over the past 15 years, used to describe data as a resource for innovation in technology, greater access to knowledge, and an opportunity to accumulate wealth. Oil, though, has a mixed history as far as societal benefits go (e.g., imperialism, war, global warming). This course explores the full potential of the “oil” metaphor by asking critical questions of data in our contemporary moment, such as: What counts as “data”? By whom? Are data “neutral”? How do various disciplines and industries create knowledge and wealth through data? What is the range of possibilities to communicate with data? What are important epistemological and rhetorical considerations at all stages of the lifecycle of data (e.g., collection, cleaning, analysis, interpretation, communication)? What is the “status quo” of data and how does that exclude marginalized people like women, people of color, and LGBTQ folks? In our major project for the semester, we will attempt to compose ethically sound and justice-oriented stories and arguments driven by our critical orientation toward publicly available datasets (or, data we collect, if a project calls for it).