A data revolution for whom? | openDemocracy

abernard102@gmail.com 2015-07-10

Summary:

" ... But a politics of public information predominantly focused on the transparency, disclosure and 'opening up' of official information risks overlooking several critical parts of the bigger picture - including what information is generated, who uses it to what end, and how it organises collective life. We ignore at our peril the question of whether information routinely generated by public bodies for their manifold objectives (such as evaluating policies or delivering services) is attuned to the needs, interests and questions of civil society groups, journalists and others outside the public sector. What are the risks of these systems for whom? Can we assume that public bodies are already measuring what society collectively considers important? It would surely be a miraculous (not to mention suspicious) coincidence if public sector data systems were already optimised to address the vast and evolving constellation of concerns in democratic politics ... A politics of public information worth its salt surely needs to go beyond a focus on what data sees the light of day, towards developing ways of scrutinising, challenging, re-envisaging and re-calibrating the priorities, rationales and methods of public information infrastructures, holistically conceived ..."

Link:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/jonathan-grey/data-revolution-for-whom

From feeds:

Data & Society » acmateescu's bookmarks
Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.comment oa.psi oa.crowd oa.lay oa.policies oa.government oa.data

Date tagged:

07/10/2015, 13:44

Date published:

07/10/2015, 04:03