Responsible Data: If you are going to do data, do it responsibly!

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Exploring, studying and responding to responsible data issues is essential because the use of technology and data is increasingly prominent in contemporary advocacy strategies. As access to mobile and digital tools and infrastructure becomes more widespread, less expensive and more user friendly, we’ve seen growing excitement surrounding technological tools and their potential to enhance civic action, political participation and accountability. Whether it is a small organization, a local advocacy group, an established human rights group or a multinational development organization, almost all social change initiatives we engage with are adopting new tools and data-driven strategies with great enthusiasm. However, because these challenges are amorphous and complex, it can be next to impossible for an organization to determine how best to use digital tools responsibly without specialist guidance and learnings from across relevant sectors.

We think that the potential risks are significant. If responsible data considerations are not embedded into project planning and implementation, there are demonstrable privacy and security harms that can and do result from even well-intentioned advocacy projects. The desire to address these harms is not new, but traditionally, addressing responsible data challenges has been limited to digital security and information security defense. However the reality is that these challenges are less about technology and more about people. They are deeply rooted in questions related to organisational ethical practices, relationships with local communities and the ways in which information can be adapted and repurposed outside of project activities. As more groups turn towards technology and data to accomplish their aims, awareness about the responsible data risks posed by new technologies will increase, and so is the demand for cross-sectoral guidance and best practice models.

This proposal to the Knight News Challenge is to take the Responsible Data Forum (http://responsibledata.io) and broader program to its next stage. We have already galvanized a core community of committed responsible data problem solvers and provided direct project support to groups facing concrete responsible data challenges. Through this process we have created documentation and resources to help others facing similar problems, and now, we would like to make this body of material useful to others in the community, and expand upon what we have learned so far.

We have developed this community in close collaboration with several partners, and with limited resources, but we are now ready to broaden our scope and ambition. We would like to use the momentum of the responsible data work so far to:

• dramatically improve the accessibility and quality of the resources that have been created so far through creative communication and design work, as well as focused testing
• raise awareness and targeted support in key communities
• build a real home for the resources and online community we have been developing (the documentation lab)
• tackle 6 more key responsible data areas (responsible data visualization; land data; gender; and three others in the course of the next 12 months)
• provide direct support, produce process documentation, and provide an in-depth look at the decision points of responsible data
• collect 5 case studies of excellent responsible data implementation
• research how decisions are made by individuals and communities around resource allocation, priorities and change management with regards to responsible data challenges, to better understand what kinds of information help people to approach these challenges in well-informed ways.

We want to be able to communicate and engage with the non-converted. Those people who are probably thinking about responsible data but don’t name it or know about it. Those people that have been dealing with issues of participation, involvement or engagement of individuals and communities in social change work for years, but also are not necessary coming to the table with a technology or data science background.

We want to provide the space and tools needed for all data driven projects to do data responsibly. We want to overhaul assumptions and embedded practices in our existing advocacy power structures, working methodologies and project architecture, to use data to truly center individuals and communities at the heart of advocacy.