Building rigour and evidence for dismantling systemic oppression through data
Co-op Foundation’s Federation Programme, supported by Luminate, is empowering people across Greater Manchester to challenge the ways in which technology and data reinforce inequalities. It’s a collaborative programme that supports social enterprises, activist organisations, charities and communities to grow the impact of their work.
Open Data Manchester CIC (ODM) applied for capacity building funding associated with the Federation Programme. The fund aimed to develop and strengthen the skills, processes or resources that help sustain organisations working towards more responsible and equitable design and use of tech.
Introducing Open Data Manchester CIC
Open Data Manchester’s vision is for data and digital systems that enhance the lives of people who live and work in Greater Manchester and beyond. They work towards this by developing more ethical data practices and challenging existing practices that exacerbate systemic oppressions and inequalities through data.
Data is playing an increasingly powerful role in our lives — through the services we use, the information we access and how it is used to make decisions that affect us. To many, data is seen as abstract and intangible. It is also shrouded in a language that to most people is dense and impenetrable. Bad practice in data exacerbates existing inequalities, impacts on people’s wellbeing and results in unfair decisions.
Where Open Data Manchester wanted to build capacity
Open Data Manchester is committed to challenging under-representation through the continued development of its Data for Communities programme that helps organisations and communities to not only understand and use data that is relevant to them, but to also design methods and uses of data that are more representative. This enables better decision-making and outcomes for communities. Alongside this, its Lexicon of Experience work investigates the human experience in data.
The organisation felt it needed to bolster its approach to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and to increase its capacity to tackle these inequality issues with rigour and evidence. They needed a grant to supplement existing guaranteed funding, enabling them to create a new role within the organisation. The aim of this role would be to develop a more robust and inclusive programme of work and to develop organisational expertise with regard to bad data practice and its impacts.
Where capacity building led
The grant enabled Open Data Manchester to employ Doctor Phoenix Andrews in the role as a research lead, with a particular focus on how data systems and the use of data can create and sustain oppressions towards under-represented and vulnerable communities. Phoenix has already inputted on Open Data Manchester’s Right to the Streets project.
It also enabled Open Data Manchester to:
- Be more rigorous in its approaches, underpinning its work with evidence and academic insight.
- Extend capacity of the organisation to engage in more consultations, focus groups and expert panels.
- Be more confident in its approaches to partners and funders regarding methods and intent.
- Be more focussed on what it needs to achieve and to be more assertive when working with clients and partner organisations regarding the need to be more accessible, inclusive and representative.
During the funding period Open Data Manchester has grown from an organisation with 3.5 full time equivalent (FTE) roles to 6 FTE roles.
Learning and impact
Open Data Manchester had two main learnings relating to recruiting and defining the role:
- Finding ways for accessing the talent pool given the unique nature of the role.
- Deploying the additional capacity to the best effect, balancing the need for research with the need for practical application.
Accessing the talent pool
The main challenge was recruiting to the position as the role is unique and does not usually exist outside an academic context. Open Data Manchester overcame this by using a CV-less recruitment process that focussed on the qualities of the person applying.
Balancing research with practical action
As the role was about practical implementation as well as research, Open Data Manchester decided to split the role to share time equally between:
- Research to find areas that need to be addressed that the organisation could focus on.
- Project support, where the specific insights are applied to new and ongoing projects.
Impact of the community
Being part of the Federation community enabled Open Data Manchester to tap into a broader cohort of skills that would otherwise be difficult to find. It has worked and partnered reciprocally with many organisations within this community, benefitting from knowledge and expertise of other organisations, which have informed its worked:
“Overall this has added to the wellbeing of our organisation and enabled us to develop and work in a more financially sustainable way through partnership working and sharing of opportunity.” — Julian Tait, CEO Open Data Manchester.
What’s coming next
Open Data Manchester is always looking at ways that it can build capacity within the organisation, especially in a situation where the need for what it is doing is great. It will continue applying for additional funding and sourcing projects and partnerships that can help sustain its work to research, address, and develop greater awareness of how systems are designed and how bad design can impact people — especially the most vulnerable and marginalised.
Through its membership of the international Design Justice Network (DJN), and its development of the North of England DJN node, Open Data Manchester will promote greater awareness of how design can impact people both positively and negatively.
You can find out more about Open Data Manchester’s continuing impact by signing up to its monthly mailer or book to join an event through Eventbrite. Get in touch via Twitter or the ODM website to explore partnerships.
This post was collaboratively prepared by Open Data Manchester CIC, and Paper Frogs, a delivery partner working on the Federation programme. The Federation programme is a Co-op Foundation partnership supported by Luminate, running since 2018. Phase one of the programme ran until Spring 2021 and was designed to look at the impacts of technology on society. Phase two builds on successes and learning from phase one. Its focus is on upholding data and digital rights and tackling inequality. The Federation programme runs until June 2023.
