Our research has highlighted that, in isolation, high-level principles can be difficult to apply and therefore may have limited impact. We recognise that there is an appetite for more practical guidance and support in this area. We also document interventions that have been developed to support and compel organisations to use data responsibly – including frameworks, technologies, training and legislative action. We found examples of efforts designed to protect privacy, address biases and enable participation in data practices. We conclude that it’s used inconsistently and with varying depth of thought, and that its meaning differs significantly based on geographical and cultural context.īut what does being responsible with data mean in practice? We investigate different ways that the concept has shaped behaviours, policies and processes in the real world. We explore the concept of ‘responsible data’, and how it’s used by civil society organisations, organisations stewarding data, governments, international NGOs and large technology organisations. We discuss how these narratives have helped people to think about how data should be collected, used and shared. In this report we discuss some of the prominent concepts we came across in our work, including ‘data stewardship’, ‘data ethics’, ‘data justice’, ‘data for good' and more. Responsible data stewardship may involve meaningful new communication with data subjects and other stakeholders, or adopting alternative forms of governance. Redress structural inequalities: Data stewardship always occurs within a wider system of relationships, value exchanges and power imbalances, which have real-world consequences for data.Harm: Alongside seeking positive impact from the use of data, responsible data stewardship involves identifying and reducing harmful impacts to individuals and communities, often going above and beyond legal requirements around privacy, security and transparency.Public benefit: Stewarding data responsibly involves ensuring it’s used and shared for the benefit of others, rather than only for the benefit of the organisation that holds it.Systemic: The impacts of data collection and use are rarely fully within the control of any one organisation, so organisations need to develop a systemic view of their data practices that links how choices made around data have impacts outside of the organisation.Because contexts vary and change over time, mitigations and approaches to collecting, maintaining and sharing data need to constantly evolve. Iterative: To us, responsible data stewardship is a negotiated and reflective process.We understand responsible data stewardship to be:Īn iterative, systemic process of ensuring that data is collected, used and shared for public benefit, mitigating the ways that data can produce harm, and addressing how it can redress structural inequalities. This definition provides a more critical lens that we can use in our work to help others design and practice data collection, use and sharing. We were driven to develop and articulate an interpretation of what responsible data stewardship means to add a normative element to our description of data stewardship. However, at the outset of this research, our understanding of what makes for good data stewardship was largely anecdotal and based mainly on our experiences with specific use cases. In our work on data institutions in recent years, we’ve expanded on this by suggesting that these organisations are stewarding data ‘on behalf of others towards public, educational or charitable aims’. One of the concepts we’ve used at the ODI is data stewardship, generally describing it simply as ‘the collection, maintenance and sharing of data’. In response to rising awareness of the harms and negative impacts of data, different concepts have emerged that represent new ways of thinking about how it should be used, including things like ‘data ethics’ and ‘data justice’. However, data and related technologies can also cause harm, including through automating decisions that need a human touch, or embedding existing biases and inequities. The right kind of access to data is vital in tackling the big challenges we face in society – from the earlier detection and treatment of disease to reducing pollution in urban spaces. ![]() This report sets out the findings of research to define responsible data stewardship undertaken by the Open Data Institute (ODI) between June 2022 and March 2023, supported by the Patrick J.
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