CIVIC TECH EVALUATION 7: ETHICAL USE OF DATA

A few key articles that cover differing aspects of the topic of ethical use of data include:

• Six Provocations for Big Data by Danah Boyd, Kate Crawford – The current ecosystem around Big Data creates a new kind of digital divide: the Big Data rich and the Big Data poor.

• Big Data Ethics by Neil M. Richards and Jonathan King – In this paper, we argue that big data, broadly defined, is producing increased powers of institutional awareness and power that require the development of a Big Data Ethics.

• Case Studies on Big Data and Nonprofits by Jeff Raderstrong and Katlyn Porter for a course at George Washington University

• The suggested reading list for the Ethics of Data in Civil Society conference from Sept 2014 is great for someone interested in this topic.

• A list of sample ethics codes was compiled and can be found on Lucy Bernholz’s blog.

• DataPopAlliance has a pretty comprehensive resource that provides a history, definitions and key facts and figures.

• The Responsible Data Forum is also something to keep an eye on. It is a series of collaborative events, co-organized by Aspiration and the engine room, and convened to develop useful tools and strategies for dealing with the ethical, security and privacy challenges facing data-driven advocacy.

• Finally, two of the organizers of the event, Lucy Bernholz and Rob Reich, recently released a paper The Emergence of Digital Civil Society that explores what is “civil society” in today’s digital world where the lines are no longer so clear with B Corporations, impact investing and other blended ventures.