Data is integral to our society: it underpins operations, policy, and decision-making across government, businesses, and civil society, and so plays an essential role in our day-to-day lives. Access to high-quality data also makes new kinds of products, services, and activities specific to data – such as advanced data analytics and digital technology like artificial intelligence (AI) – possible. So it is important that major national data assets, such as the government’s official statistics, are representative of our society and accessible by all as a public good.
On 3 March 2021 the Open Data Institute (ODI) convened the ‘Inclusive data roundtable’ in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Centre for Public Data, bringing together representatives from government, academia, funders, civil society and community organisations.
The aim of the roundtable was to catalyse discussion and creative thinking as we prepare the ODI’s response to the ONS Inclusive Data Taskforce consultation, so the meeting was structured around a series of provocations. These provocations are included below with the speakers’ permission, and we encourage you to explore them and consider some of the key questions that they prompted for us.
We’re also publishing here our report ‘Inclusive data: perspectives from a roundtable discussion’, which includes a case study provided by the Romani Cultural and Arts Company, and an ‘Inclusive data resource list’ as a ‘living document’ that anyone can contribute to. You can email us suggesting additional resources until Monday 22 March. We hope you find it useful and share it with others. And in the meantime check out this introduction to the ONS Inclusive Data Taskforce, including ways to engage with them.
The below audio clips were recorded remotely.
Some key questions
- What has changed in the last five years? And what could change in the next five years?
- Can ‘inclusive data’ be bound by national borders? Should it be?
- Is there a difference between how we talk and feel about complexity and uncertainty in a subject like physics, compared with equality, diversity and inclusion? If so, why? And what are some of the practical consequences?
Some key questions
- What’s the difference between producing data and statistics, and answering questions?
- What are the questions that count right now? And what can help us ask the right questions?
- What are the questions that we should be asking? And what data do we need to answer them?
Some key questions
- What are the habits of invisibility? And when might they be preferable to visibility?
- What changes when the observer becomes the observed? What might those who are considered invisible by a society be able to ‘see’?
- How might data practices strengthen community solidarity?
Some key questions
- Can an institution that isn’t equitable still have an equitable approach in its data and digital practices?
- Can inclusive data be achieved as a standalone in just one sector or domain, such as health or transport?
- Should there be an equivalent of the public sector equality duty for industry and civil society?
Some key questions
- Are there patterns around where and when data is ‘missing’?
- What is the difference between the ‘missing numbers’ of data that is available but not collected, data that is collected but rejected for inclusion, and data that is collected but not shared with others?
- How can the practicalities of collecting and managing data over time be more sustainable?
Some key questions
- Can inclusive data exist without fair, equitable and inclusive systems?
- What are the opportunities around data and digital technology in social systems with inequalities and intersectionalities?
- What are the tools or approaches that would allow us to integrate emotional and political intelligence with statistical rigour in our data practices?
Get involved
We’re planning to stay active in this area, to continue the conversation, and to bring in more voices. We’d love to hear your thoughts on what would be interesting or helpful – let us know on Twitter @ODIHQ or email [email protected]. And in the meantime we encourage you to engage with the ONS Inclusive Data Taskforce consultation – the deadline for consultation responses is Friday 26 March.