Federation landscape review
The Federation programme is about upholding data and digital rights to reduce inequality and advance community wellbeing. Paper Frogs is a delivery partner on the programme. This is our review of what’s been happening in the world of data and digital rights over the past 6 months in Manchester and beyond. Made by me and @rod in Manchester.
Tackling inequity
Manchester neurodiversity centre will create 100 jobs: Professional services giant EY’s first Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence (NCoE) in the UK will support employees with cognitive differences such as autism, dyslexia and ADHD.
→ Federation partners SENDCode and Digital Advantage are working together on programmes that unlock learning opportunities for young, neurodiverse people to build confidence and start careers in the digital sector so we’re delighted that EY has chosen Manchester for its Centre of Excellence.
Racial Diversity in Digital Research Report in Leeds: “Ensuring diversity is built into our products and services is beneficial for society as it ensures that everyone feels seen — and that the products and services that come out of the city are competitive and fit for the global economy.” That starts with diverse teams.
→ Federation partner DiverseTech hosts discussions that delve into the research and is building a diverse digital sector from the ground up through taster sessions and bootcamps that retrain adults from Black and under-represented backgrounds for a career in tech.
These Algorithms Look at X-Rays — and Somehow Detect Your Race. “A study raises new concerns that AI will exacerbate disparities in health care. One issue? The study’s authors aren’t sure what cues are used by the algorithms.” Unfortunately, this is how machine learning systems (ML) work. Because ML is typically used to answer questions like “find new patterns in this impossibly gigantic data set”, you won’t necessarily know what an ML system has learned or why it is making decisions. Related: for truly ethical AI, its research must be independent from big tech.
→ Manchester has a thriving AI research community, including the University of Manchester’s new role in the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems, and the Greater Manchester AI Foundry.
Following on from that, bias can then be amplified if machine learning systems are used as operational shortcuts — that from a story about how your Facebook selfies end up in police face recognition databases.
New strategy points to public sector role in boosting AI in UK — a good summary of how the UK Government sees AI being used in the public sector. Wider context: UK to ditch EU privacy rules in post-Brexit push to trade data ‘like oil’. Maybe improving the flow of data will support innovation, but there are obvious and important privacy concerns.
→ The community’s response to the UK government’s data reform plan was Federation partner Open Data Manchester’s way of making sure that those concerns were heard.
Rights, trust and community
Co Develop helps countries build inclusive, safe and equitable digital public infrastructure. You could think of this new fund as Vaccine Alliance-style financing but for the foundational code and policies that power everyday technology like healthcare, banking and social media — important but often invisible tech layers. Co Develop’s principles: Tech for good or ‘Good’ tech? Related, Public-purpose technology. “Impact startups whose core purpose is to improve citizens’ lives will come to be identified with Public-Purpose Tech” — today “public purpose” tends to be interpreted as GovTech, but it’s much broader than that. We believe public purpose is a category that’s at an early stage and will grow massively in time.
→ The Federation programme’s Responsible Tech Collective, facilitated by Noisy Cricket, is bringing similar values to tech and organisation practices, starting in Manchester: What do we mean by bringing home the humanity to tech?
Why Community Organisations need Community Tech. It’s natural to think that community organisations need help with digital tech — like a new community tech stack. But supporting and strengthening the technologies that community organisations are already making and using is an easier way because it doesn’t make assumptions that community organisations want to make profit and scale their work in the same way that businesses do. Software is always political.
→ This is a research piece for Power to Change, which works to strengthen community businesses.
Neighbour wins privacy row over smart doorbell and cameras. Common tensions between privacy and security — and between the individual and the collective — are hard to resolve.
→ Community led approaches to privacy and security are being explored through the Responsible Tech Collective with a project on Citizen-Led Security Standards.
Better business models
Dark Patterns highlight unfair or deceptive user interface practices. Lots of synergies here with the work of the Responsible Tech Collective and Open Data Manchester in reimagining principles and practices to make tech services more trustworthy.
→ Related: Paper Frogs’ response to the UK Government consultation on data.
Social media is an amplifying tool. How TikTokers took down a Texas anti-abortion site and Extremists used TikTok to promote Jan. 6 violence. Elsewhere, extremists use computer game chat as gateways to spread hate and radicalise others. Technology is never neutral, but it is indifferent: social media doesn’t care how it is used. Related: on her last day at work, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen typed a message into the company’s internal network: ‘I love Facebook. I want to save it.’
→ The Federation programme is funding a number of Greater Manchester organisations to help challenge tech harms, power imbalances and inequalities.
Manchester Digital Innovation and Security Hub. In early 2021, Manchester City Council selected a consortium, headed up by Barclays Eagle Labs, to operate the new Manchester Digital Innovation and Security Hub. It’ll have a particular focus around health security and supporting economic recovery and resilience over the longer term.
→ The bigger picture: Manchester is now the most impactful UK tech hub outside of London.
News from the North: Greater Manchester Combined Authority Digital newsletter.
Keep up-to-date about the Federation Programme, funded by Luminate, by signing up to the Co-op Foundation’s blog. Read more about its impact.
