Editorial

This Open Debate addresses the theme of missing data as a field of investigation for design, and as an opportunity to rethink the relationship between knowledge, technology and representation. In contemporary digital systems, the production and circulation of data define what is recognised, stored and remembered. In this scenario, design takes on a critical role in questioning the logic with which data is collected, ordered and made visible. The aim of this issue is to understand how design can intervene when the information is missing or partial, transforming such gaps into tools for reflection and experimentation. The practices presented here explore different ways of dealing with incompleteness: from alternative infrastructures to collect and share data to participatory processes that redefine meaning, to visual and storytelling methodologies that can foreground phenomena and subjects that are often excluded. The datum is understood as situated material, affected by values, relations and choices, requiring an approach that is mindful to contexts and to the consequences of design. Design thus emerges as a critical and cultural practice that can generate new ways of knowing, representing and sharing, working between what is visible and what remains invisible.