Sustainable Development Data
Channel: Science & Development Network
Date: 2018-11-23

Ever since big data entered the mainstream a few years ago, opinion has been divided – some see gold-dust for new analytical insights and social benefit, others see a human rights disaster waiting to happen. 

It’s still early to see concrete benefits for global development. “The reason is that there is no way right now to access big data at scale,” says Emmanuel Letouze, director and co-founder of the Data-Pop Alliance, a global coalition that promotes the use of big data in global development. “So we're stuck in a low equilibrium where we do pilots, case studies, proofs of concept, little things here and there.”

For example, big data has been used in pilot programmes to track people in humanitarian situations, model the spread of disease, develop early warnings for extreme weather in Lake Victoria, and even improve bus routes in Cote d’Ivoire. 

If concrete benefits are rare, so too are examples of harm. Yet, the Facebook data breach scandal aside, early signs of danger can be seen in how social media has been used to crack down on dissent in countries such as China and Pakistan. 

Latching on to problems and blowing them out of proportion can also deprive society of the many benefits of technology, argues Jan Piotrowski, environment correspondent at the Economist and a Bellagio resident. “Technologies will be put to good use, but could also be used for ill purposes, and this has been true since man picked up a stick.” 


The fast pace of technological change also adds a twist to the age-old challenge of societies struggling to keep up with scientific advances, immortalised exactly two hundred years ago in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. 

And data researcher Taylor sees this issue in big data, continuing a development policy pattern that goes back to World War II, with Northern countries attempting to create technology transfer and economic models in the South.

“What I see in this [EU] big data for migration statistics initiative … is that statistics agencies who are having to collaborate with start-ups on, for instance, analysing satellite data in combination with social media postings from people coming out of refugee camps on the Turkish border … they can't do any kind of meaningful analysis because they don't have the cultural and linguistic capacity to understand what they're seeing,” she explains.

There are also many cases of well-meaning but problematic development of apps that collect information about vulnerable people to help them access services, according to Koenig. She cites the example of electronic devices used to document sexual violence crimes without considering that some people or countries might find sharing certain images inappropriate.   

The imbalance extends to the development of big data analytics capacity, and some worry about a new digital divide. “I do think there is a risk of developing countries listening to what they are told … [and] making big investments in systems that are not built for their needs,” says Maria deArteaga, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States. “What are the customizable parts? What are the embedded assumptions?”

It’s not for lack of expertise, according to Justin Arenstein, founder and chief executive of Code for Africa – African data scientists simply need a stronger voice to help shape policy. “There is a growing and vibrant data science ecosystem across Africa, with some really curious data 'explorers' … who are using open source data to ask important developmental questions.”

“Local context - culture, politics, infrastructure etc. - will always influence how digital tools and technologies are rolled out,” says Tariq Khokhar, managing director and senior data scientist at The Rockefeller Foundation. “The most important local context is the data itself.”