Using data and sensors from the physical campus environment
“Big Data” has – often rightly – had a bad press. Is there a better way to think about it? Starting from potential benefits and discussing how they might be achieved should help us choose the right outcomes to aim for when using data, make it more likely that those aims will be delivered, and […]
It seems easy to come up with new ways we might re-use data we already have. But harder to work out, in advance, whether an idea is likely to be perceived as unethical, intrusive, or just creepy. In a recent paper – “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (of Data)” – I explored […]
During the pandemic, a lot of ideas have come up – not just contact tracing! – where useful information might be derived from location data. It struck me that a selection of those might be an interesting illustration of how intrusiveness isn’t just about the data we use, but what we use it for. Here’s […]
Since it has provided the foundation for most of the work I’ve been doing on data for the past couple of years, I’ve recorded a video explaining our standard model for “analytics”, in both practical and legal terms If you’d like to know more, a couple of papers set out the theory Downstream Consent: a […]
Perhaps surprisingly – given that its title was “Digital ethics” – last week’s SOCITM panel session spent a lot of time exploring things that aren’t “digital”. Although the discussion focussed on local government, a lot of the ideas seemed relevant to education, too. Don’t be solutionist: technology might not be the right option. When identifying […]
Thinking through an idea that occurred to me during our SOCITM ShareNational panel on ethical use of data and technology. What happens if we explicitly think about “our spaces, which people use”, rather than “people that use our spaces”? That may seem like a semantic quibble, but I think it leads in three interesting directions: […]
When I was invited to join a panel at the SOCITM ShareNational event for local government I presumed my role was to provide a different, external, perspective on “Ethical Use of Emerging Technologies and Data”. So I offered to contribute a five-minute “sparkler” introduction: a bit of illumination, some striking of ideas, maybe a smile. […]
I’m pleased to announce the publication of our Intelligent Campus Data Protection Impact Assessment Toolkit. Intelligent Campuses use existing data and new sensors to deliver better places to study, work, live and socialise. But there’s a risk with any use of data or sensors that even the best-intentioned ideas will be misused or misunderstood: as […]
Lilian Edwards gave a fascinating keynote at the UK IGF this morning, on Protecting Digital Rights During a Pandemic. Though privacy is the most often discussed right in the context of pandemic response, rights of free speech and free assembly also need to be borne in mind. Although the impact of national schemes (contact tracing […]
[Update: a recording of my talk is now available] When I submitted my proposal for a talk at the EUNIS 2020 conference, I was planning to talk about the need to work with staff and students to agree why and how to use intelligent campus sensors and data. That was intended to be looking into […]