"The proliferation of environmentally oriented programs within the tech industry, and the industry’s coinciding efforts toward data and technology democratization, generate concerns about the status of environmental data within digital economy. While the accumulation of digital personal data has b
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een a cornerstone of domination of the data analytics industry, many believe environmental data to be a source of “untapped potential.” The potential of environmental data, the argument goes, would benefit equally the digital economy, environmental sciences, and academic data and artificial intelligence experts. This article analyzes the proliferation of the rhetoric about open environmental data by focusing on Microsoft’s Planetary Computer cloud computing program and computer vision experts who curate and use biodiversity data stored on Microsoft’s servers. Through an analytical framework of sociotechnical imaginaries, the article draws connections between visions of future for environmental knowledge production and governance promoted by Microsoft and the work of computer vision experts intending to benefit from the potential of environmental data as machine learning training sets while at the same time helping environmental sciences. Although environmental data on the Planetary Computer is democratized, it nonetheless becomes a valued asset to data economy, but often with unintended consequences, such as enabling citizen science biodiversity data to be used by state surveillance apparatus. The article challenges the view that data’s democratization is unproblem atically serving environmental sciences by examining the consequences of imaginaries of democratization emerging from the data industry leaders and processes of nonmonetary valuation of environmental data by experts who curate these datasets." (Abstract)
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"Trends towards greater transparency of platforms, in the form of extending cooperation around data, offer benefit to the interests of all stakeholders. This policy brief considers the normative, institutional and technical mechanisms that support access to datasets that are not accessible generally
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but have public interest value. The analysis below maps the general trends and issues, then proceeds to assess the separate cases of journalists’ safety and media viability, and concludes with recommendations." (Abstract)
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"Based on Articles 10 and 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as an entry-point and building on recent developments in international human rights and multi-stakeholder initiatives focusing on anticorruption, transparency and openness, this Guide documents the importance of
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access to information (ATI) at the transnational and national levels to support efforts preventing corruption, showcasing both existing and emerging practices. It presents examples of how proactive disclosure and reactive disclosure of information support anticorruption efforts in terms of prevention and investigation. ATI is at the heart of many international and sector-based initiatives that build on citizens’ participation to improve accountability and increase transparency in public life. The Guide is an abbreviated version of ARTICLE 19’s detailed guide, published in 2022. It presents to all anti-corruption practitioners’ examples and initiatives initiated by States Parties to the UNCAC, international organizations, civil society organizations, and the private sector to promote ATI. It also exhibits how their combined or individual efforts contribute to fighting corruption and increasing transparency." (Introduction)
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"Access Rules mounts a strong and hopeful argument for how informational tools at present in the hands of a few could instead become empowering machines for everyone. By forcing data-hoarding companies to open access to their data, we can reinvigorate both our economy and our society. Authors Viktor
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Mayer-Schönberger and Thomas Ramge contend that if we disrupt monopoly power and create a level playing field, digital innovations can emerge to benefit us all. Over the last twenty years, Big Tech has managed to centralize the most relevant data on their servers, and data has become the most important raw material for innovation. Dominant oligopolists like Facebook, Amazon, and Google, contrary to their reputation as digital pioneers, are in fact slowing down innovation and progress for the benefit of their shareholders--and at the expense of customers, the economy, and society. As Access Rules compellingly argues, ultimately it is up to us to force information giants, wherever they are located, to share their treasure troves of data with others. In order for us to limit global warming, contain a virus like COVID-19, or successfully fight poverty, everyone must have access to data - citizens and scientists, start-ups and established companies, as well as the public sector and NGOs. When everyone has access to the informational riches of the data age, the nature of digital power will change. Information technology will find its way back to its original purpose: empowering all of us to use information so we can thrive as individuals and as societies." (Publisher description)
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"Ethical dilemmas with open source analysis are common. Analysts and journalists working with open source information have stories of feeling uneasy about publishing something. They weigh possibly risking harm to themselves, their employer, other individuals, or even international security. After pu
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blishing, they worry whether they did the right thing. These stories are shared quietly or hesitantly—compared to stories of journalistic or analytic feats—but ethical challenges are part of the day-to-day experience. Those analysts and journalists also acknowledge they could use more training, guidance, support, and focused discussion on their ethical practices. This paper aims to help elevate those stories and perspectives. It offers observations from a series of 28 structured interviews with analysts and journalists who use open source and geospatial analysis to inform their work on international security and nonproliferation policy. The goal of the paper is to make it easier for individuals, organizations, and community stakeholders to join discussions on enhancing their ethical practices with open source analysis. The paper isn’t a critique of existing practices. Nor does it prescribe an ethical framework. Instead, it is an attempt to learn with practitioners and help identify potential bottom-up solutions to the common ethical challenges they face." (Page 3)
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"New data sources related to socio-economic development should improve journalistic reporting. However, in the absence of a centralized open data repository in Tajikistan, journalists may face delays in getting quick access to important datasets. To address this challenge, Zerkalo conducted a mappin
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g study, identifying the open data sources in Tajikistan and putting together a comprehensive database accessible on Airtable and Google Spreadsheets. By mapping most of the open data, the current study facilitates the access to development-related information for journalists working on socio-economic issues. Relying on a two-stage desk research approach, Zerkalo constructed a database containing most of the open data sources in Tajikistan. The data collection phase for the mapping study was implemented from February 14 to March 10, 2022. Overall, the research team examined 1032 hyperlinks to 68 websites, holding relevant datasets. As a result, Zerkalo identified 294 datasets on socio-economic themes and included them in the database." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"This volume highlights some of the alternative models that have originated in two major Asian democracies, India and South Korea. It compares these two countries’ distinctive approaches through case studies that demonstrate just how much more complex the world will be than the common-place predic
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tion of a battle between U.S.- and Chinese-centric approaches." (Introduction, page 2)
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"Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is intended to teach all users of development data how to handle data effectively, efficiently, and ethically. An empirical revolution has changed the face of development research over the last decade. Increasingly, researchers are
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working not just with complex data, but with original data—data sets collected by the research team itself or acquired through a unique agreement with a project partner. Research teams must carefully document how original data are created, handled, and analyzed. These tasks now contribute as much weight to the quality of the evidence as the research design and the statistical approaches do. At the same time, empirical research projects are expanding in scope and scale: more people are working on the same data over longer time frames. For that reason, the central premise of this book is that data work is a “social process,” which means that the many people on a team need to have the same ideas about what is to be done, when, where, and by whom so that they can collaborate effectively on a large, long-term research project." (Introduction)
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"This report aims to answer two fundamental questions. First, how can data better advance development objectives? Second, what kind of data governance arrangements are needed to support the generation and use of data in a safe, ethical, and secure way while also delivering value equitably? One impor
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tant message of this report is that simply gathering more data is not the answer. Significant data shortfalls, particularly in poor countries, do exist, but the aim of this report is to shift the focus toward using data more effectively to improve development outcomes, particularly for poor people in poor countries." (Overview, page 3)
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"Making Open Development Inclusive: Lessons from IDRC Research focuses on the connection between openness and inclusion in global development. It brings together the latest research that cuts across a wide variety of political, economic, and social arenas - from governance to education to entreprene
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urship and more. The chapters draw on empirical evidence from a wide and diverse range of applications of openness, uncovering the many critical and underlying elements that shape and structure how particular openness initiatives and/or activities play out - and critically - who gets to participate, and who benefits [or not] from openness, while exploring the frontiers where openness intersects with deeper challenges of development, technology, and innovation." (Publisher description)
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"This book provides empirical accounts to understand the situatedness of open data along the following themes: 1) open data practices; 2) the local implementation of global trends; and 3) open data ecosystems. Many chapters in this volume simultaneously address several of these themes. The thematic
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grouping of chapters is an attempt to foreground salient questions for open data research. In addition, the book covers country-specific, localised applications of open data with a few chapters explicitly focusing on how open government data initiatives unfold within different socio-political contexts. The geographical scope of the contributions spans four continents, providing insights on open data practices in Europe (Kosovo, Belgium, United Kingdom), Africa (Nigeria, Tanzania), Asia (Indonesia, the Philippines), and Latin America (Paraguay, Brazil)." (Introduction, page viii)
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"Open-source intelligence gathering and analysis (OSINT) techniques are no longer predominantly the remit of private investigators and journalists. An estimated 80-90% of data analysed by intelligence agencies is also now derived from publicly available material. Additionally, the massive expansion
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of the internet and, in particular, social media platforms, have made OSINT increasingly accessible to civilians who simply want to trawl the Web for information on a specific individual, organisation or product. In May 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented in the UK through the new Data Protection Act, intended to secure personal data against unjustified collection, storage and exploitation. This document presents a preliminary literature review of work related to the GDPR and OSINT, which was collated as the basis for an as-yet-unpublished study evaluating the effects of the GDPR on OSINT capabilities in the UK. The literature reviewed is separated into the following six sections:‘What is OSINT?’,‘What are the risks and benefits of OSINT?’,‘What is the rationale for data protection legislation?’,‘What are the current legislative frameworks in the UK and Europe?’,‘What is the potential impact of the GDPR on OSINT?’, and ‘Have the views of civilian and commercial stakeholders been sought and why is this important?’. As OSINT tools and techniques are accessible to anyone, they have the unique capacity for being used to hold power to account. It is therefore important that new data protection legislation does not impede civilian OSINT capabilities." (Abstract)
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"Open-source intelligence (OSINT) gathering and analysis techniques are used by investigators from a variety of fields, owing to their accessibility and exceptional capacity for corroboration. It has previously been argued that proposed data protection legislation can chill the free press, but there
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have been no studies assessing the effect of such reforms on more general OSINT capabilities. European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented in the UK through the 2018 Data Protection Act (DPA) to protect personal data against exploitation. This study surveyed 16 OSINT gathering and analysis practitioners across public and private sectors to determine firstly, what, if any impact the implementation of the GDPR/DPA have had on their ability to successfully operate as OSINT analysts and secondly, if they have noticed any subsequent changes in UK public perception around issues of the surveillance state and digital privacy. I argue that this initial survey shows that the GDPR is merely a first step in establishing societal expectations and regulations around digital privacy. While some changes to OSINT practice have been reported, to date few substantive changes to OSINT methods or analysis resulted or seemed poised to take effect, one year after the advent of the GDPR/DPA." (Abstract)
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"A decade ago, open data was more or less just an idea, emerging as a rough point of consensus for action among pro-democracy practitioners, internet entrepreneurs, open source advocates, civic technology developers, and open knowledge campaigners. Calls for “open data now” offered a powerful cr
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itique of the way in which governments and other institutions were hoarding valuable data paid for by taxpayers – data that if made accessible, could be reused in a myriad of different ways to bring social and economic benefits and democratic change. Ten years on, open data is much more than just an idea. First, it was a movement, and then a label applied to vast quantities of data from genomics and geospatial data to land registers, contracting, and parliamentary voting. Today, it’s a term found on government portals, in global policy documents, and in job descriptions. Thousands of businesses around the world owe their existence or their growth to the release of open government data, and hundreds of civil society organisations have embraced open data as a key element of their social change toolkit. For a while, it may have been possible to identify a cohesive open data movement united by shared interests, working simply to gain access to more data and establishing the principle that government data should be open. However, as the movement has evolved, stakeholders have turned their focus to linking data use to specific needs and to questions of how to quantify the return on investment in advancing open data. Within this fast growing and organic open data movement, an ever-increasing number of networks and communities of practice have become more diverse, fluid, and cross-sectoral. So what is the open data movement today? What has it achieved over the last decade? Answering these questions is at the core of this publication. It is a collective effort to explore what we can learn from the past, to identify how to build on the investments made to date, and to look at how open data policy and practice have started to address challenges such as mainstreaming and sectorisation. Exploring these questions is not just important for historical purposes. It can yield important insights on how best to move forward. This publication is also an invitation to identify the issues that may sustain this broad coalition into the future." (Introduction)
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