Data is the New Voice
Coinciding with International Women’s Day, the Women in Data Science conference in Sydney was hosted to bring together and celebrate the amazing achievements of the many talented females in the field of data science.
I was invited by Theresa Anderson (another inspiring woman in the data science field) to present my perspectives on a panel addressing the Futures of Data Science. This article is a reflection on the topics discussed that day.
I found the theme of the discussion particularly inspiring.
You don’t have to search far to find the many topics of discussion in data science, most of which are focused on technology and its continuous evolution, and on what it takes to begin a career as a data scientist. Both of these are important, for without we would have modern innovations such as deep learning, which is responsible for many of the most recent advances in computer vision and natural language understanding, nor would we have robust guidance, many tutorials and a constantly growing pool of resources for aspiring data scientists to develop their skills.
As I reflected on the topic, my thoughts first turned to the considerable progress data science has the power to bring to the social sector and to citizens.
While I enjoy many different roles in this field, as the founder of the Sydney community of Data for Democracy, this is an area of extreme importance to me.
Data for Democracy is a grassroots collective of data scientists and technologists, who are inspired to dedicate their time and data science skills to real projects in the name of social good. This is a belief and an identity which, since beginning in the United States not too long ago, that has spread all over the world.
In Sydney, this belief is led by a talented group of idealistic millennials (a pleonasm really), who are ready to shape the future of data science for social good. As an active group in our local community, our goal is to support data science projects that help improve access to open data to the public and, on the other side, volunteer alongside social organisations so that they can access the right people to deliver data projects which help them to support their causes.
In this vibrant collaboration, while we are keen to share our values both within our community and beyond, we realised the importance of our vision and the need to shape how we function our own organisation as a projection of our values and what we stand for.
Since founding our Sydney group, I can summarise the many debates and discussions amongst our leaders about our direction and our values into two key areas:
- How we want to work with data
- Where we want to apply data science
Let me begin with the “How”.
You have probably heard of a famous article where the publication likens data to the new oil. In that article, the comparison not only examines the gigantic amount of revenue that both resources represent for its controllers, but also the market structure, where the group of the Tech Giants — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft — could be comparable in some aspect to the oligopolistic state of oil.
While size in a market is not a crime per se, control over consumers and thus citizens information in this case is an issue for society to address. Contrary to its usual liberal perspective on the world, the article concludes with a call to governments to take over the outdated antitrust laws and embrace the shift from an oil economy to a data economy.
But, when we look at the crucial importance of this issue and the lack of control governments have on major private companies, how can we think that the authorities can be the only actor in this new game?
How can we make sure that the future of our data economy is under control and participate in an equal and fair society?
I believe that there is a growing responsibility today and into our future for data scientists, data analysts, data journalists, our data heroes, to make sure data is not the new oil but the new voice, and that data science becomes a new language for citizens.
That new language is paramount if we want to support democracies with informed people; it is crucial, now more than ever, to shape the future of data science by taking it, not only as a potential source of revenue, but also as a tool to foster healthy societies.
While we need to bring everyone to the table, I think that our responsibility, as data heroes, is to act with integrity when dealing with and manipulating data; to communicate the assumptions, caveats and potential pitfalls of our work with transparency and to take part in a global data education.
At Sydney Data for Democracy, that transparency and that constant learning are the keys to the ongoing success of our community. For example, all our analysis code and data are open, easily accessible and reproducible, and we put a priority on supporting our members in learning new aspects of data science across our projects.
The Where
After considering how we use our new oil, how we speak our language, we need to think about who we want to talk to, where we want to apply the power of data and how we leverage information and data science talent.
I think there is a major responsibility again for organisations and individuals to consider themselves not only as part of a market but as citizens. When you consider data as an economic commodity where once collected, by its nature, requires no cost for sharing and leveraging its power for non-capitalist purposes. For organisations and individuals, equipped with the right information, they can support populations, save lives and help solve social issues. While money may be the motor, data is the direction.
We have seen countless examples in recent years of applications of data science for social good. In extreme cases, data sharing from private companies has helped save the lives of thousands of people.
Among them, we remember:
The major outbreaks in Africa where private telecommunications companies were able to share their aggregated and de-identified data to help organisations like Flowminder to follow population movements and predict the spread of the disease.
During the last Nepal earthquake that claim thousands of lives, a mobile network operator shared its data to allow humanitarian organisations better target aid to those in need.
At our level, with Sydney Data for Democracy, our main outputs is of course to apply our skills and the data we find or are provided to help our society in various ways.
As a local community, we are present in the current major Australian social issues such as homelessness, with a focus on refugees; mental health and domestic violence to name a few.
As a diverse and talented team of data heroes, we discover and embrace how data can be a source of social progress in many ways.
In summary
As I closed my talk, I challenged the audience, and now you, to consider:
What do we want to do with Data Science?
As you consider this question in the context of your own life, community and talents, remember.
How — This is about transparency and education, which means prioritising open knowledge, open data and open source enablers.
Where — This is about applying our skills to create a bridge between open and private data to areas in need, focussing our talents and time to the most valuable applications, so we can make a real positive difference to the lives of those around us.
(and if you want to find out more about how we do this, you can find the details for the regular Data for Democracy Sydney meetup at http://d4d.sydney/meetup!)
