TReNDS Experts Debate if the Data “Revolution” is a Misnomer
Written by Alyson Marks
Last month, TReNDS members from around the world convened in Los Angeles on October 28 – 30 for the group’s bi-annual meeting. As part of the meeting, members honed their debate skills in a series of two Hollywood Reporter-style filmed roundtable debates on the relevance of the data revolution for sustainable development.
Source: Alyson Marks/SDSN TReNDS
The first debate drew on recommendations from Counting on the World to Act, which highlights the significant potential that data and technological innovations can provide governments to better monitor, understand, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the importance of modernizing National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to collaborate with third parties and empower their national statisticians to be more inclusive and globally-focused. Key questions raised from this debate included:
Do we still need traditional methods like surveys and censuses?
Are the new advances in data entirely positive for our ability to monitor the Earth and the wellbeing of people?
Who within government should be responsible for identifying and adopting these data innovations?
Do governments want to adopt these innovations, and if so do they have the capacity?
Are the current policy and regulatory frameworks most countries have fit for purpose?
Source: Alyson Marks/SDSN TReNDS
The second debate explored new data innovations and technologies, and to what extent they can help governments and other stakeholders. Topics centered on population monitoring innovations and insights from our POPGRID project, the potential of telecommunications data, and the power of citizen generated data. Questions raised during this debate included:
Is the use of satellite data to monitor population and human infrastructure really groundbreaking and can these methods replace the census?
Are there benefits for mobile phone companies to share telecommunications data with governments?
Are there risks to monitoring individuals’ whereabouts via satellite imagery and telecommunications data?
With the ubiquity of smartphones, can we ask people to gather and report their own data
How robust is citizen generated data, and can governments rely on this kind of information?
It was clear during these debates that the “data revolution” is certainly not a misnomer and that governments and stakeholders need to embrace these innovations to achieve sustainable development solutions.
To find out TReNDS members’ opinions and insights on the above questions, stay tuned for the roundtable videos that will be released later this year. In the meantime, comment below with your thoughts on the above topics.