It has been 8 years since the RD community first came to life. Since then over 1000 members from various backgrounds, expertise, and experiences joined and contributed to the nuanced conversation about how to best use data for good.
To celebrate this anniversary we asked 12 RD community members to share their thoughts and reflections on responsible data. Here, we are sharing the resulting series of articles on topics ranging from data accountability and inclusivity to overall data literacy and much-needed systemic regulations.
You can find all of the articles on the Anniversary website, which we launched especially for the occasion:
- Amy O’Donnell and Melton Jenos, What Do Responsible Data and Acrobats Have in Common?
- Gargi Sharma, What Real Accountability in the Humanitarian Sector Can Look Like
- Jennifer Easterday, On Echo Chambers and Challenging Assumptions: Responsible Data in Fragile and Conflict Settings
- Linda Raftree, Responsible Data, and MERL
- Thobekile Matimbe, A Human-Rights Based Approach to Data
- Aidan Peppin, Polls, Protest, and Participation: A Changing Landscape in Public Engagement and Responsible Data
- Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Technological Refusal When Our Bodies Are at Stake
- Paola Verhaert, Re-Imagining a Responsible Approach to Informed Consent
- Catherine d’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, The Seven Principles of Data Feminism
- Mushon Zer-Aviv, Responsibly Visualising a Pandemic of Invisible Proportions
- Gabriela Ivens, Responsible Open-Source Investigations for Human Rights Research
- TEDIC, Open Data Meets Responsible Data for a More Sustainable Future
To us, this anniversary collection of articles is a testimony to the complexity of Responsible Data as a topic. With no absolute answers available, the best way forward is to ask questions, engage in conversations, and push best practices forward. This balancing act of trying to do the right thing, with people’s rights and dignity at the heart of everything, is what the RD community is all about.
We will spend the next month highlighting the 12 articles (in digestible bites!) internally on the listserv and publicly on Twitter. Keep an eye out for #ResponsibleData and join the conversation.
If you have edits, suggestions, or any other ideas inspired by the series, please reach out directly to Alicja, the RD Community Manager at hello@theengineroom.org. In the meantime, we do hope you will enjoy all 12 articles. May they put you in a state of critical reflection.
Happy Anniversary!
