Stefaan Verhulst
Study by Sean Martin McDonald: “…undertaken with support from the Open Society Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Media Democracy Fund, explores the use of Big Data in the form of Call Detail Record (CDR) data in humanitarian crisis.
It discusses the challenges of digital humanitarian coordination in health emergencies like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and the marked tension in the debate around experimentation with humanitarian technologies and the impact on privacy. McDonald’s research focuses on the two primary legal and human rights frameworks, privacy and property, to question the impact of unregulated use of CDR’s on human rights. It also highlights how the diffusion of data science to the realm of international development constitutes a genuine opportunity to bring powerful new tools to fight crisis and emergencies.
Analysing the risks of using CDRs to perform migration analysis and contact tracing without user consent, as well as the application of big data to disease surveillance is an important entry point into the debate around use of Big Data for development and humanitarian aid. The paper also raises crucial questions of legal significance about the access to information, the limitation of data sharing, and the concept of proportionality in privacy invasion in the public good. These issues hold great relevance in today’s time where big data and its emerging role for development, involving its actual and potential uses as well as harms is under consideration across the world.
The paper highlights the absence of a dialogue around the significant legal risks posed by the collection, use, and international transfer of personally identifiable data and humanitarian information, and the grey areas around assumptions of public good. The paper calls for a critical discussion around the experimental nature of data modelling in emergency response due to mismanagement of information has been largely emphasized to protect the contours of human rights….
See Sean Martin McDonald – “Ebola: A Big Data Disaster” (PDF).
New report and microsite informing the Federal Front Door project: “Recent research has made clear that we as agencies within the federal government need to improve the public’s interactions with the government across the board. Overall, Americans’ satisfaction with federal services is dropping, and currently ranks below their satisfaction with private-sector and local government services . Our team believes that by identifying broad trends in people’s perceptions of and interactions with the government, we can identify and create cross-agency services and resources to improve how the government interacts with the public. We’re starting to explore projects that would increase people’s satisfaction with their interactions with the government. These include efforts to improve transparency in service design (the conscious coordination of people, infrastructure, and materials to improve the user’s experience of a service) and promote information sharing among agencies.
Our team believes that by identifying broad trends in people’s perceptions of and interactions with the government, we can identify and create cross-agency services and resources to improve how the government interacts with the public. We’re starting to explore projects that would increase people’s satisfaction with their interactions with the government. These include efforts to improve transparency in service design (the conscious coordination of people, infrastructure, and materials to improve the user’s experience of a service) and promote information sharing among agencies.
As a starting point, we conducted extensive research on different people’s views of and interactions with federal agencies. This report details our findings and recommendations. This research is not intended to be a critique of specific government agencies. Rather, our aim was to better understand the public’s overall experience interacting with the federal government and their attitudes about sharing information with government agencies. The examples we’ve provided illustrate patterns seen across numerous agencies….
We structured our research so we could better understand the following questions:
- What touch points do people think they have with the federal government?
- What touch points do people actually have with the federal government?
- What are people’s pain points in interacting with the federal government?
- Are people taking advantage of the government services they are eligible for? Why or why not?
- How do people feel about sharing their personal information with the government?…
See also Informing the future of the Federal Front Door, 18F.
WORK STREAMS
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Knowledge sharing and collaboration among data producers.
This work stream supports peer exchange and technical assistance between groups within (and beyond) the Alliance on topics ranging from research methodology design and data analysis tools to data storage, data visualization techniques, and managing government feedback.
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Publishing and promoting a governance data dashboard that aggregates high-quality data in one place: www.governancedata.org.
This work stream promotes improved accessibility, standardization, and use of existing governance data.
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Collecting and analyzing governance data user habits and trends to better understand and meet the needs of those users in future data production efforts.
This work stream involves an analysis of responses collected through the 2014 Reform Efforts Survey as well as the collection of new data through novel “snap polls” focused on understanding future demand for governance data.
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Piloting coordinated data co-production efforts to explore possible economies of scale.
This work stream aims to improve the availability of data, particularly for under-assessed countries, and to drive down the costs of data production over time….(More)
Geoff Mulgan at NESTA: ” This paper makes the case for creating a Machine Intelligence Commission – a new public institution to help the development of new generations of algorithms, machine learning tools and uses of big data, ensuring that the public interest is protected.
I argue that new institutions of this kind – which can interrogate, inspect and influence technological development – are a precondition for growing informed public trust. That trust will, in turn, be essential if we are to reap the full potential public and economic benefits from new technologies. The proposal draws on lessons from fields such as human fertilisation, biotech and energy, which have shown how trust can be earned, and how new industries can be grown. It also draws on lessons from the mistakes made in fields like GM crops and personal health data, where lack of trust has impeded progress….(More)”
Carina Storrs at CNN: “Angela’s son Jacob was born with a number of concerning traits. He had an extra finger, and a foot and hip that were abnormally shaped. The doctors called in geneticists to try to diagnose his unusual condition. “That started our long, 12-year journey,” said Angela, who lives in the Baltimore area.
As geneticists do, they studied Jacob’s genes, looking for mutations in specific regions of the genome that could point to a problem. But there were no leads.
In the meantime, Jacob developed just about every kind of health problem there is. He has cognitive delays, digestive problems, muscle weakness, osteoporosis and other ailments.
“It was extremely frustrating, it was like being on a roller coaster. You wait six to eight weeks for the (gene) test and then it comes back as showing nothing,” recalled Angela, who asked that their last name not be used to protect her son’s privacy. “How do we go about treating until we get at what it is?”
Finally a test last year, which was able to take a broad look at all of Jacob’s genes, revealed a possible genetic culprit, but it still did not shed any light on his condition. “Nothing was known about the gene,” said Dr. Antonie Kline, director of pediatric genetics at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, who had been following Jacob since birth.
Fortunately, Kline knew about an online program called GeneMatcher, which launched in December 2013. It would allow her to enter the new mystery gene into a database and search for other clinicians in the world who work with patients who have mutations in the same gene….
the search for “someone else on the planet” can be hard, Hamosh said. The diseases in GeneMatcher are rare, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States, and it can be difficult for clinicians with similar patients to find each other just through word of mouth and professional connections. Au, the Canadian researcher with a patient similar to Jacob, is actually a friend of Kline’s, but the two had never realized their patients’ similarities.
It was not just Hamosh and her colleagues who were struck by the need for something like GeneMatcher. At the same time they were developing their program, researchers in Canada and the UK were creating PhenomeCentral and Decipher, respectively.
The three are collectively known as matchmaker programs. They connect patients with rare diseases which clinicians may never have seen before. In the case of PhenomeCentral, however, clinicians do not have to have a genetic culprit and can search only for other patients with similar traits or symptoms.
In the summer of 2015, it got much easier for clinicians all over the world to use these programs, when a clearinghouse site called Matchmaker Exchange was launched. They can now enter the patient information one time and search all three databases….(More)
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Robinsion Meyer at The Atlantic: “Americans inhabit an intricately mapped world. Type “Burger King” into an online box, and Google will cough up a dozen nearby options, each keyed to a precise latitude and longitude.
But throughout much of the world, local knowledge stays local. While countries might conduct censuses, the data doesn’t go much deeper than the county or province level.
Take population data, for instance: More than 7.4 billion humans sprawl across this planet of ours. They live in dense urban centers, in small towns linked by farms, and alone on the outskirts of jungles. But no one’s sure where, exactly, many of them live.
Now, Facebook says it has mapped almost 2 billion people better than any previous project. The company’s Connectivity Labs announced this week that it created new, high-resolution population-distribution maps of 20 countries, most of which are developing. It won’t release most of the maps until later this year,but if they’re accurate, they will be the best-quality population maps ever made for most of those places.
The maps will be notable for another reason, too: If they’re accurate, they ‘ll signal the arrival of a new, AI-aided age of cartography.
In the rich world, reliable population information is taken for granted. But elsewhere, population-distribution maps have dozens of applications in different fields. Urban planners need to estimate city density so they can place and improve roads. Epidemiologists and public-health workers use them to track outbreaks or analyze access to health care. And after a disaster, population maps can be used (along with crisis mapping) to prioritize where emergency aid gets sent….(More)
John D. Macomber at Harvard Business Review: “The prospect of urban innovation excites the imagination. But dreaming up what a “smart city” will look like in some gleaming future is, by its nature, a utopian exercise. The messy truth is that cities are not the same, and even the most innovative approach can never achieve universal impact. What’s appealing for intellectuals in Copenhagen or Amsterdam is unlikely to help millions of workers in Jakarta or Lagos. To really make a difference, private entrepreneurs and civic entrepreneurs need to match projects to specific circumstances. An effective starting point is to break cities into four segments across two distinctions: legacy vs. new cities, and developed vs. emerging economies. The opportunities to innovate will differ greatly by segment.
Segment 1: Developed Economy, Legacy City
Examples: London, Detroit, Tokyo, Singapore
Characteristics: Any intervention in a legacy city has to dismantle something that existed before — a road or building, or even a regulatory authority or an entrenched service business. Slow demographic growth in developed economies creates a zero-sum situation (which is part of why the licensed cabs vs Uber/Lyft contest is so heated). Elites live in these cities, so solutions arise that primarily help users spend their excess cash. Yelp, Zillow, and Trip Advisor are examples of innovations in this context.
Implications for city leaders: Leaders should try to establish a setting where entrepreneurs can create solutions that improve quality of life — without added government expense. …
Implications for entrepreneurs: Denizens of developed legacy cities have discretionary income. …
Segment 2: Emerging Economy, Legacy City
Examples: Mumbai, São Paolo, Jakarta
Characteristics: Most physical and institutional structures are already in place in these megacities, but with fast-growing populations and severe congestion, there is an opportunity to create value by improving efficiency and livability, and there is a market of customers with cash to pay for these benefits.
Implications for city leaders: Leaders should loosen restrictions so that private finance can invest in improvements to physical infrastructure, to better use what already exists. …
Implications for entrepreneurs: Focus on public-private partnerships (PPP). …
Segment 3: Emerging Economy, New City
Examples: Phu My Hung, Vietnam; Suzhou, China; Astana, Kazakhstan; Singapore (historically)
Characteristics: These cities tend to have high population growth and high growth rates in GDP per capita, demographic and economic tailwinds that help to boost returns. The urban areas have few existing physical or social structures to dismantle as they grow, hence fewer entrenched obstacles to new offerings. There is also immediate ROI for investments in basic services as population moves in, because they capture new revenues from new users. Finally, in these cities there is an important chance to build it right the first time, notably with respect to the roads, bridges, water, and power that will determine both economic competitiveness and quality of life for decades. The downside? If this chance is missed, new urban agglomerations will be characterized by informal sprawl and new settlements will be hard to reach after the fact with power, roads, and sanitation.
Implications for city leaders: Leaders should first focus on building hard infrastructure that will support services such as schools, hospitals, and parks. …
Implications for entrepreneurs: In these cities, it’s too soon to think about optimizing existing infrastructure or establishing amusing ways for wealthy people to spend their disposable income. …
Segment 4: Developed Economy, New City
Examples and characteristics: Such cities are very rare. All the moment, almost all self-proclaimed “new cities” in the developed world are in fact large, integrated real-estate developments with an urban theme, usually in close proximity to a true municipality. Examples of these initiatives include New Songdo City in South Korea, Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, and Hafen City Hamburg in Germany.
Implications for city leaders: These satellites of existing metropolises compete for jobs and to attract talented participants in the creative economy. ….
Implications for entrepreneurs: Align with city leaders on services that are important to knowledge workers, and help build the cities’ brand. ….
Cities are different. So are solutions….(More)
Edoardo L’Astorina at BluFrame: “Big Data is amazing. It describes our everyday behavior, keeps track of the places we go, stores what we like to do and how much time we spend doing our favorite activities.
Big Data is made of numbers, and I think we all agree when we say: Numbers are difficult to look at. Enter Big Data visualization….Data visualization lets you interact with data. It goes beyond analysis. Visualization brings a presentation to life. It keeps your audience’s eyes on the screen. And gets people interested….
We made everything easy for you and prepared a series of reviews that cover all the features of the best data visualization tools out there. And we divided our reviews in two sections: data visualization tools for presentations and data visualization tools for developers.
Here are reviews of our 20 best tools for Big Data visualization.
Data Visualization Tools for Presentations: Zero Coding Required:…
Tableau.. is the big data visualization tool for corporate. Tableau lets you create charts, graphs, maps and many other graphics. A desktop app is available for visual analytics….
Infogram…lets you link their visualizations and infographics to real time big data…
ChartBlocks… is an easy-to-use online tool that requires no coding, and builds visualizations from spreadsheets, databases… and live feeds….
Datawrapper.. is aimed squarely at publishers and journalists…
Plotly…will help you create a sharp and slick chart in just a few minutes, starting from a simple spreadsheet….
RAW… boasts on its homepage to be “the missing link between spreadsheets and vector graphics”….
Visual.ly… is a visual content service….
Data Visualization Tools for Developers: JavaScript libraries
D3.js…runs on JavaScript and uses HTML, CSS and SVG. D3.js is open-source and applies data-driven transformation to a webpage and – as you can see from their examples – allows for beautiful and fast visualizations….
Ember Charts is – as the name suggests – based on the Ember.js framework and uses D3.js under the hood….
NVD3…runs on top of D3.js –surprise surprise– and aims to build re-usable charts and components….
Google Charts… runs on HTML5 and SVG and aims at Android, iOS and total cross-browser compatibility, including older Internet Explorer versions supported via VML…
FusionCharts is – according to their site – the most comprehensive JavaScript charting library, and includes over 90 charts and 900 maps….
Highcharts…is a JavaScript API that integrates easily with jQuery and boasts being used by 61 out of the world’s 100 largest companies….
Chart.js…For a small chart project, Chart.js is your go-to place….
Leaflet… leveragesOpenStreetMap data and adds HTML5/CSS3 visualizations and interactivity on top to ensure everything is responsive and mobile ready….
Chartist.js.. is born out of a community effort to blow all other JavaScript charting libraries out of the water…
n3-charts…is for the AngularJS lovers out there….
Sigma JS…is what you want for interactivity….
Polymaps…visualizes…. you guessed it: maps….
Processing.js …is a JavaScript library that sits on top of the Processing visual programming language…(More)“
Olivier Alais at the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: “The concept of “open data” is not new, but its definition is quite recent. Since computers began communicating through networks, engineers have been developing standards to share data. The open data philosophy holds that some data should be freely available for use, reuse, distribute and publish without copyright and patent controls. Several mechanisms can also limit access to data like restricted database access, use of proprietary technologies or encryption. Ultimately, open data buttresses government initiatives to boost innovation, support transparency, empower citizens, encourage accountability, and fight corruption.
West Africa is primed for open data. The region experienced a 6% growth in 2014, according to the Africa Development Bank. Its Internet user network is also growing: 17% of the sub-Saharan population owned a unique smartphone in 2013, a number projected to grow to 37% by 2020 according to the GSMA. To improve the quality of governance and services in the digital age, the region must develop new infrastructures, revise digital strategies, simplify procurement procedures, adapt legal frameworks, and allow access to public data. Open data can enhance local economies and the standard of living.
This paper speaks towards the impact of open data in West Africa. First it assesses open data as a positive tool for governance and civil society. Then, it analyzes the current situation of open data across the region. Finally, it highlights specific best practices for enhancing impact in the future….(More)”
Book edited by Oriol Nel-lo and Renata Mele: “Cities in the 21st Century provides an overview of contemporary urban development. Written by more than thirty major academic specialists from different countries, it provides information on and analysis of the global network of cities, changes in urban form, environmental problems, the role of technologies and knowledge, socioeconomic developments, and finally, the challenge of urban governance.
In the mid-20th century, architect and planner Josep Lluís Sert wondered if cities could survive; in the early 21st century, we see that cities have not only survived but have grown as never before. Cities today are engines of production and trade, forges of scientific and technological innovation, and crucibles of social change. Urbanization is a major driver of change in contemporary societies; it is a process that involves acute social inequalities and serious environmental problems, but also offers opportunities to move towards a future of greater prosperity, environmental sustainability, and social justice.
With case studies on thirty cities in five continents and a selection of infographics illustrating these dynamic cities, this edited volume is an essential resource for planners and students of urbanization and urban change….(More)”