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Start date:
Oct 2015
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End date:
Dec 2017
- Contact:
- Project site
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Funder:
John Fell OUP Research Fund (Social Sciences Division)
The big data and human development research network aims to investigate the potential uses of 'big data' for advancing human development and addressing equity gaps.
Overview
Data are now almost ubiquitous. Sensors and software are digitising and storing all manner of social, economic, political and environmental patterns and processes. As the size of these datasets has increased exponentially, many have begun to focus on how ‘big data’ harvested from online sources can allow potentially unprecedented insights into our world that may facilitate efforts to enhance human development.
Yet relatively little is known about how best to harness ‘big data’ in ways that could effectively inform development processes, particularly for the most disadvantaged, and whether those at the margins who produce the least amount of data risk becoming even more invisible. While new expertise is emerging, it remains unclear whether, and how, ordinary citizens will be able to seize these opportunities, individually and collectively and use them to their advantage.
Our initiative:
The ‘big data and human development’ research network aims to investigate the potential uses of ‘big data’ for advancing human development and addressing equity gaps. We are establishing a cross-disciplinary and global network to map what data sources and techniques exist for harnessing new digital data and address persistent concerns regarding human development, inequity, exclusion, and participation.
Our Goals:
The goals of this network will be to stimulate policy-oriented research that seeks to understand: (1) what presences and absences of data tell us about issues of participation and exclusion; (2) what data tell us about gaps in human development: facilitating better decision-making and accountability in previously data-sparse environments; (3) what tools have emerged globally that can maximise citizen ownership of big data, by making data meaningful within the cultures of participation that characterise different localities.
Our Approach:
We plan to achieve these goals with three core activities.
1) First, we plan build a digital observatory that seeks to assess the potentials of different data sources for informing human development. This observatory will be a web-platform that can link to relevant data and metadata.
2) Through the use of detailed case studies, we aim to empirically illustrate some of the promises and perils of using big data to inform human development. These case studies will be carried out in collaboration with end-users is some of the countries that most need to access big data and harness them for human development, but lack the expertise to make use of them as they are currently offered.
3) Third, we plan to bring together research and policy from both Global North and South to ensure that methodological knowledge about big data is appropriately mapped on to the interests of stakeholders to achieve key development outcomes. We hope to bring together key figures in order to avoid what Schroeder 2014 refers to as the tail of big data wagging the dog.
Our Planned Activities:
- An initial workshop will be held in Oxford in the first year of the initative bringing together a limited number of key stakeholders to discern the potential use of big data for human development. This workshop will help inform development of the data observatory and selection of case studies.
- A core activity for our project is the development and maintenance of a data observatory of big data and its potential for informing human development
- A final workshop will be held in the second year to disseminate our preliminary findings to a broader range of stakeholders and further engage with the types of empirical research being pursued.
- We also plan to host a seminar series focusing on ‘big data and human development.’ This will be an open event for anyone in Oxford, and will be freely webcast for a broader audience.
Our hope is that this project will bring together a range of disciplinary strengths at Oxford and beyond. At this early stage, we welcome inputs, suggestions, and collaborations, to steer and guide this initiative. Bringing together work in this area will not only result in ground-breaking, cross-disciplinary research, but will also ultimately serve to inform more evidence based human development programmes around the world.
Latest blog posts
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Want to work with us at the Oxford Internet Institute? I’m hiring a Digital Geographer!
Date Published: 5 May 2017 - 12:59 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
I am hiring a Digital Geographer to work with me at the Oxford Internet Institute for two years on a full-time contract (we’ll also ...
Read More Want to work with us at the Oxford Internet Institute? I’m hiring a Digital Geographer! -
ICT and Development seminar series – 2017 webcasts
Date Published: 29 March 2017 - 3:28 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
Our ICT and Development seminar series gathers leading scholars and practitioners to reflect on the influence of new communication technologies on development processes. We ...
Read More ICT and Development seminar series – 2017 webcasts -
Digitally Augmented Geographies – New Publication
Date Published: 2 March 2017 - 4:38 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
I have another new publication out this week. Thanks to the editors (Rob Kitchin, Tracey Lauriault, and Matt Wilson) for all of their efforts ...
Read More Digitally Augmented Geographies – New Publication
People
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Professor Mark Graham
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
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Dr Fabian Braesemann
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Videos
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Digitalisation and Globalised Labour Markets
Duration: 00:34:22
Date: 25 November 2016
Professor Mark Graham's speech on Digitalisation and Globalised Labour Markets at UNI Global Union's 2016 Leadership Summit.
Blog
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Want to work with us at the Oxford Internet Institute? I’m hiring a Digital Geographer!
Date Published: 5 May 2017 - 12:59 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
I am hiring a Digital Geographer to work with me at the Oxford Internet Institute for two years on a full-time contract (we’ll also ...
Read More Want to work with us at the Oxford Internet Institute? I’m hiring a Digital Geographer! -
ICT and Development seminar series – 2017 webcasts
Date Published: 29 March 2017 - 3:28 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
Our ICT and Development seminar series gathers leading scholars and practitioners to reflect on the influence of new communication technologies on development processes. We ...
Read More ICT and Development seminar series – 2017 webcasts -
Digitally Augmented Geographies – New Publication
Date Published: 2 March 2017 - 4:38 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
I have another new publication out this week. Thanks to the editors (Rob Kitchin, Tracey Lauriault, and Matt Wilson) for all of their efforts ...
Read More Digitally Augmented Geographies – New Publication -
New Big Data and Development Fellowship: Apply to work with our Data Scientist
Date Published: 10 February 2017 - 10:46 am
Authors: Mark Graham
I am happy to report that the Big Data and Human Development Incubator has just recruited a data scientist to work with the network ...
Read More New Big Data and Development Fellowship: Apply to work with our Data Scientist -
Launching the 2017 ICT4D Seminar Series
Date Published: 20 January 2017 - 6:44 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
You can now sign up for the 2017 ICT4D seminar series at the Oxford Internet Institute. I’ve put this year’s list together with my ...
Read More Launching the 2017 ICT4D Seminar Series -
We’re hiring! Data Scientist to study the geography of the darknet
Date Published: 14 January 2017 - 4:38 am
Authors: Mark Graham
Grade 7: Salary £31,076 – £38,183 p.a. We are looking for a full-time Researcher to work with Professor Mark Graham and Dr Joss Wright ...
Read More We’re hiring! Data Scientist to study the geography of the darknet -
Work with me at the Oxford Internet Institute: we’re hiring a Data Scientist / Data Hacker
Date Published: 18 November 2016 - 11:33 am
Authors: Mark Graham
Data Scientist/Data Hacker Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles, Oxford Grade 7: £31,076 – £38,183 p.a. The Oxford Internet Institute is a leading centre ...
Read More Work with me at the Oxford Internet Institute: we’re hiring a Data Scientist / Data Hacker -
Big data, the Global South, and digital transformation
Date Published: 30 September 2016 - 9:02 am
Authors: Iginio Gagliardone
The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), in Johannesburg, recently made the news for the launch of one of the most innovative centers in Africa ...
Read More Big data, the Global South, and digital transformation -
Symposium on Big Data and Human Development – closing remarks
Date Published: 19 September 2016 - 12:51 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
It has been an extremely rewarding two days at the Symposium on Big Data and Human Development that Eduardo Lopez and I organised. We ...
Read More Symposium on Big Data and Human Development – closing remarks -
Symposium on Big Data and Human Development | Sept 15-16 2016 | Final Programme
Date Published: 31 August 2016 - 8:14 am
Authors: Mark Graham
This workshop aims to move forward the debate about the ways in which big data is used, can be used, and should be used ...
Read More Symposium on Big Data and Human Development | Sept 15-16 2016 | Final Programme -
Symposium on Big Data and Human Development
Date Published: 10 June 2016 - 11:40 am
Authors: Mark Graham
We are happy to announce a two-day symposium (Sept 15-16) that we are running in Oxford on the topic of big data and human ...
Read More Symposium on Big Data and Human Development -
Jobs in Big Data and Development
Date Published: 2 June 2016 - 6:13 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
The Alan Turing Institute is now hiring 3-year fellows in social data science and the digital humanities. One of the specific areas that they ...
Read More Jobs in Big Data and Development -
Using Alternative Data Sources to Validate International Surveys?
Date Published: 7 March 2016 - 11:34 am
Authors: Kit Dobyns
The narrative of misleading development statistics has been iterated in recent years. Morton Jerven’s well-known text, How We are Misled by African Development Statistics ...
Read More Using Alternative Data Sources to Validate International Surveys? -
Big Data and Development: Speed Dating!
Date Published: 11 February 2016 - 1:52 pm
Authors: Kit Dobyns
Participants outlined some of their “aspirations” for big data and human development on post-it notes. On Thursday, February 4th, approximately 20 Oxford academics met ...
Read More Big Data and Development: Speed Dating! -
Introducing the ICT4D Seminar Series! (Hilary, 2016)
Date Published: 21 January 2016 - 3:09 pm
Authors: Kit Dobyns
This coming Hilary term, the ICT4D series will again engage leading scholars and practitioners in discussions focused on the intersection of big data and ...
Read More Introducing the ICT4D Seminar Series! (Hilary, 2016) -
What role for the Big Data and Human Development research network? Reflections from the UN Expert Group Meeting on Big Data and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 14-15 December, Bangkok
Date Published: 23 December 2015 - 3:57 pm
Authors: Marco Haenssgen
Participants at the UN Expert Group Meeting on “Big Data and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (Photo credit: Eri Nomikou, https://twitter.com/ENomikou/status/676274507384938496) With ...
Read More What role for the Big Data and Human Development research network? Reflections from the UN Expert Group Meeting on Big Data and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 14-15 December, Bangkok -
Big data and development mailing list
Date Published: 4 December 2015 - 1:37 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
We have started a mailing list for anyone wanting to stay in touch about the ‘big data and development’ initiative, and engage in conversation ...
Read More Big data and development mailing list -
Kickoff!
Date Published: 28 October 2015 - 4:30 pm
Authors: David Simon
Meeting of the minds, featuring Iginio Galiardone via Skype.
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The new Big Data and Human Development research network
Date Published: 26 October 2015 - 8:54 pm
Authors: Mark Graham
Data are now almost ubiquitous. Sensors and software are digitising and storing all manner of social, economic, political and environmental patterns and processes. As ...
Read More The new Big Data and Human Development research network