Assignment 1: Joshua Blumenstock, “Don’t forget people in the use of big data for development”

In his 2018 article “Don’t forget people in the use of big data for development,” author Joshua Blumenstock summarizes the biggest threats to the successful development of the data science industry on an international level. By first defining the word “successful” in the context of this field (i.e., by identifying human development, not profit, as the primary goal of data-enabled applications and machine-learning algorithms), Blumenstock makes a compelling case for the consideration of humanity above corporate gains in the world of big data. Though critical of the industry’s current, sensationalized representation in the media, Blumenstock seems convinced that data scientists, researchers, political leaders, and private organizations can work together to create “a humbler data science” by increasing the regulation, testing, and validation of data-collecting tools to better vet results as well as reorienting the core technology of such tools to eliminate biased algorithms.

Ideally, Blumenstock writes, the data science field of the near future will consist of collaborative, wide-reaching tools utilized freely and equitably by governments, humanitarian organizations, and the general populaces of countries across the world. However, without cooperation and communication between involved parties on a global scale, it may not be possible to create a version of the industry that can cater to every individual’s needs. Current examples of data-based exclusion and marginalization mentioned in the article, such as the forms of misappropriation demonstrated by the Kenyan digital loan service M-Shwari and the Chinese government’s “social credit” system, prove that untailored data applications and nonspecific systems of technology can hurt impoverished and socially-isolated individuals more than they might help. In order to truly aid “undeveloped” urban areas and communities, data-based tools of development must be more accessible, interpretable, and malleable to the people who need them the most.

Blumenstock, Joshua. “Don’t forget people in the use of big data for development.” Nature News, 10 Sep 2018, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06215-5. Accessed 23 Aug 2020.