Founder Member Ethicist Spotlight: Tricia Wheeler at the Co-op
Next in our series of Founder Member interviews we talk with Tricia Wheeler at The Co-operative Group. Tricia has a wealth of experience in data governance, working throughout the Co-op withvarying roles involving data. Tricia is the chair of the Co-op’s Data Ethics Advisory Group.
It’s likely, if you’re based in the UK, you’ve heard of the Co-op, shopped there, used their funeral services or eaten their food. Because of this they have more resources than some organisations and an incentive to make sure all their customers and members can access their services.
Governance means managing with authority
“A big part of data governance is about empowering people to manage data well. Data governance is business owned, rather than an IT problem.”
“Governance means managing with authority.”
“There’s a huge stakeholder process that goes into data governance. We are a very small team and a big part of what we do is empowering the business owners to manage data with authority.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
As chair of the Data Ethics Advisory Group, Tricia is interested in looking at how people can be brought together from different teams and organisations, both around tools and in building awareness of core principles — how not to do harm with data, as well as sharing data for good.
“We have a tool to assess risk across the organisation called the Data Ethics Canvas, developed with the Open Data Institute, we try to raise awareness, getting the tool used across the organisation to promote best practice.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
A shared ethos for a fairer world
Co-op was founded on six values and principles to seek a better and fairer way of doing business. Those values are:
- Self-help
- Self-responsibility
- Democracy
- Equality
- Equity
- Solidarity
“Our digital team and data team operate to support people to use digital tech and provide services which are fair for communities.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
These values and principles make Co-op a good fit as a founding member of the RTC and with them projects, trials and relationships have been taken forward in the Responsible Tech Collective.
Responsible Tech Diagnostic Tool
In 2021 the Co-op partnered with the RTC to test a prototype tool, process and set of questions, which was named the Responsible Tech Diagnostic Tool. After a round of testing, the insights were gathered.
“[The Responsible Tech Diagnostic Tool] very much resonates with our data ethics approach.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
The Responsible Tech Diagnostic Tool is being taken forward this year with a university partner.
Community engagement is a vital part of Co-op’s data ethics process
We talk about how important it is within Co-op to engage with community and users directly, covering all cohorts in the community.
“There are a number of ways that different parts of the organisation do this — the Co-op Collective is a group of customers willing to help with customer research, the panel has a sample of people including ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. The panel provides feedback on our products and services.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
What’s clear is that Co-op’s values and principles cut right through down to the way that language is used on the website.
“In Co-op Funeralcare there has been a lot of work on changing the way our website talks about death and bereavement. The Digital part of the Co-op Funeralcare team looked at making the language open and empathetic, providing information on a difficult subject for the customer who has often lost a loved one.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Inspiring research, thinking and products from Co-op
The RTC membership is motivated by the untapped potential to enable equity, equality and sustainability within the tech industry, to enhance innovation and the improvement of products and service performance.
Tricia gave me a glimpse into some of the inspiring research, thinking and products being worked on now. The thread that knits these projects together is that Co-op is co-operating for a fairer world.
“In the Annual Co-operate report (sustainability report) the Co-op has 10 climate change commitments. From a tech point of view, it’s about supporting the commitments.”
“Where have we got waste in our systems and processes? Can we use data to help our communities in terms of food and energy use? For example to provide community fridges and use of waste food from our distribution network to help people in need.”
“But it’s important to question whether we have the appropriate datasets. Where is the data from and is it biassed? What could be the adverse effects? Who haven’t we thought of? Have we got a fair representation in our data? This all speaks to the importance of engaging with and asking the communities we serve.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Ethical Artificial Intelligence
Teaching a machine leads to learned behaviour from the teacher.
“For machine learning, the dataset is even more important. If there is bias, this can be reinforced. That’s why the Co-op is setting up a register of where we use AI in the organisation.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Another instance of how Co-op’s values and principles have guided an approach is in marketing.
“One good example of AI use for the Co-op is in food shopping, where we provide personalised offers based on previous purchases, hopefully presenting offers that are of interest. Data ethics are involved here — for example if we think you may be vegetarian, we won’t present you with meat offers, and if you haven’t bought pet food in a while, we will substitute this offer for something else, in case the pet has died.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Practical responsible tech examples from Co-op
- Energy
Energy saving is really important at the Co-op. This is where large amounts of data can be used to a sustainable advantage.
“Large data sets can be analysed to provide insight on how the best energy savings can be made.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
2. Sustainable farming
What’s even more impressive is that Co-op not only looks at this for their own stores, but this ethos is carried through to help suppliers.
“The Data Ethics Advisory Group also allows us to share data and practice outside the organisation. A good example is the Co-op approach to palm oil — we made the decision to only use sustainable palm oil, rather than phasing it out all together. This approach was driven by data — because when we analysed it, simply moving to other types of oil could actually use more land and cause more harm.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
3. Supply chain
Working in partnership to realise an ethical goal.
“Co-op partnered with Chester Zoo sharing our palm oil product data for an app made by WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums). This allows customers to check the sustainability of products in a supply chain and make informed choices.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
4. Funding
How might data be used to inform funding for causes?
“The Co-op also uses data from the Community Wellbeing Index and shares data with 360Giving to inform funding for local causes, again using data to support equity and equality”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Start by asking: ‘what would your customers think?’
Our conversation turns to thinking about challenges and opportunities for smaller organisations, when looking to address progressive design and data ethics in the area of security and privacy.
“As a rule of thumb it’s important to take the perspective of ‘What would your customers think? Would they be happy?’ if they took the time to understand fully how their data was used, stored and protected.”
“You are trying to protect an individual, allowing them to easily know the reason you’ve collected the data in the first place, and provide a clear view of the purpose of the data. And then taking a step further asking the question — ‘not just can we do that, but should we do that?’”
“From a commercial point of view all organisations have obligations under GDPR. You could argue that a business might miss out on revenue from taking a higher ethical stance on data use, but would it be worth the potential reputational damage, financial and legal consequences of a data breach, and loss of customers. It’s a business risk not to be ethical about data.”
Tricia Wheeler @ Co-op
Have you been inspired by this conversation?
Thank you to Tricia Wheeler for your insight into how data ethics and governance can shape a sustainable, compassionate and equitable world through tech. Join us over on LinkedIn and Twitter to share your comments and build on the conversation around data ethics, data research and data governance.
Appendix
- Community Wellbeing Index
Home | Wellbeing Index (coop.co.uk)
This allows a post-code search for a whole range of metrics grouped into themes of People, Place and Relationships. - Palm Oil app (with Chester Zoo and WAZA World Association of Zoos and Aquariums)
PalmOil Scan App — What you can do (chesterzoo.org)
See Co-op blog here Palm oil myths — busted | Co-op Blog (coop.co.uk) with further links to Chester Zoo and supplier rankings. - Tone of voice for Funeralcare website
There’s a blog about it here The principles that guide our content design and communications in Funeralcare — Co-op Digital Blog (coop.co.uk)
Read the Digital Blog as there are a few that are relevant to responsible technology. - Details of Co-op’s full annual Sustainability Report (“Co-operate Report”) can be found here: Sustainability reporting — Co-op sustainability report 2021 — Co-op (co-operative.coop) where you can download the full report — see the section on ‘Responsible Technology’ p103 in the ‘Fairer Business’ part of the report.Also p62 for Community Wellbeing Index.
- Co-op is top of the leaderboard for accessibility of UK supermarket websites Accessibility of UK Supermarket Websites — Silktide Index. Congratulations to the team.
