As we approach the new year, the data revolution remains a lively topic of conversation. The following list of summaries blogs and articles shows commentaries on how the data revolution has advanced. If we have missed something, please contact us.
29 December 2015
Morten Jerven authors “Evidence based policy or policy based evidence? Supply and demand for data in a donor dominant world” on the World Bank’s People, Spaces, and Deliberation blog. The post highlights several potential misaligned incentives within the data revolution and suggests that to avoid these problems, the data revolution should focus on the local demand for data. …(source)
29 December 2015
“How much development data is enough?” written by Keith D Shepherd on Project Syndicate says data can be used for better policies but only if data collection improves and is focused on policy….(source)
December 2015
The Institute of Development Studies publishes the policy brief “Ensuring developing countries benefit from big data.” The post provides a number of policy recommendations related to data, including a recommendation that the UN establish a Declaration of Data Rights….(source)
28 December 2015
UN Global Pulse publishes “A new generation of data science innovators in Africa” by John Quinn. The post is about new data science efforts in Africa as part of the data revolution….(source)
22 December 2015
Julia Duncan and Nic Covey write a blog post on GODAN highlighting Project 8. A product of a partnership with the Demand Institute, the US State Department’s Office of Global Food Security, UN Foundation, Salesforce.org, and Accenture, Project 8 is a new data platform that aims provide better data on hunger….(source)
19 December 2015
“Data- the first hurdle to overcome to attain the SDGs” written by Mahmoud Mohiedin and Haishan Fu on The World Post highlights the need for better and more data to track the SDGs….(source)
16 December 2015
Nicholas Robin, Thilo Klein and Johannes Jütting write a paper for PARIS21 titled Public-private partnerships for statistics: Lessons learned, future steps. The authors outline potential benefits of partnerships between official statisticians and private sources of big data…(source)
11 December 2015
Mayra Buvinic and Megan O’Donnell write a blog for the Center of Global Development titled Here’s how to really leave no one behind: Improve data collection on women and girls. The authors say that missing data on women and bad data on gender issues must be addressed to achieve a gender data revolution…(source)
10 December 2015
Ntando Makhubu writes an article for IOL titled Data revolution in poverty fight lauded. The article focuses primarily on the potential benefits to opening up scientific research data in Africa…(source)
1 December 2015
Amanda Zerbe writes an article for Global Daily titled Big data: A key asset for driving climate action. The article discusses the COP21 meetings and the GPSDD. Zerbe highlights ways that data can be used to reach the ambitions of the COP21 meetings…(source)
3 December 2015
Samuel Greengard writes a post for Baseline magazine titled A data-driven global sustainability partnership. The article discusses the GPSDD for which “the opportunities are enormous.”…(source)
3 December 2015
Harpinder Collacott and Tim Wainwright write a blog post for the Guardian titled Poor people living with disabilities are counting on better data for better lives. The article says that on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities a data revolution should empower those living with disabilities.…(source)
23 November 2015
Global Policy Watch publishes a briefing written by Barbara Adams titled SDG indicators and data: Who collects? Who reports? Who benefits? The briefing focuses on the politics of selecting goals and indicators for the SDGs.…(source)
23 November 2015
Philippa Garson writes an article for IRIN headlined Unsustainable development goals? Are 222 indicators too many? The article says that more needs to be done to effectively track the Sustainable Development Goals indicators.…(source)
21 November 2015
The Economist writes an article titled Open government data: Out of the box. The article says, “The open-data revolution has not lived up to expectations. But it is only getting started.”.…(source)
18 November 2015
Data-Pop Alliance publishes a blog post by Emmanuel Letouze and Carson Martinez titled Taming the data storm to shape a human-centered data revolution: contextualizing and announcing digitising Europe’s stakeholders’ dialogues. The post discusses the threats posed to society from the data revolution and the efforts to counteract this trend.…(source)
18 November 2015
The Vodafone Institute posts a YouTube video of a debate between Alex Pentland and Andrew Keen on the potential and risks of the data revolution.…(source)
18 November 2015
Fabrizio Scrollini writes a blog post on the International Open Data Conference website titled Will open data policies contribute to solving development challenges? The post centers on the open data community in Latin America and says that “people, use, and policy” are crucial to the success of the data revolution.…(source)
18 November 2015
Wilbrod Ntawiha writes a blog post for Development Initiatives titled Improving African national statistical systems will change lives. In light of African Statistics Day, Ntawiha discusses challenges in official statistics in Africa. He writes, “There is need for a data revolution to sustainably improve data systems for collecting vital statistics, including birth data.”…(source)
16 November 2015
Richard Heeks writes a blog post titled Data-X development: What’s in a name? Heeks says that the term ‘data revolution’ is “naive hyperbole to suggest data is going to transform structures.”…(source)
16 November 2015
Haishan Fu writes a post to the Fin4Dev blog titled A new partnership for data. Fu outlines her hopes for the GPSDD. She says that the World Bank is committed to working with the GPSDD and “kick start a Data Revolution for Development.”…(source)
16 November 2015
Natasha Agarwal publishes a post at the Web Foundation titled India must do more to see impact of open data. The post discusses her recent brief evaluating India’s national open government data platform. Among other findings, she says that India’s data revolution will require improvements to physical infrastructure…(source)
12 November 2015
Madison Salters writes a post for The Toolbox titled Data is not neutral: Why gender-based statistics don’t tell the full story (yet.) The post features a conversation with Emily Courey Pryor of Data2X about the gender data revolution.…(source)
9 November 2015
The Center for Global Development publishes a blog post by Mayra Buvinic and Megan O’Donnell titled The sexist data crisis and three ways to start tackling it. The post highlights gender data problems sand says that the problem should be addressed by collecting data on the 20 indicators highlighted by Data2x and Open Data Watch, “get[ting] all hands on deck,” and focusing on country-owned planning mechanisms to address data gaps.…(source)
8 November 2015
Chris Underwood writes a blog post titled OGP: An inclusive ‘moment’ that counts what counts? Underwood asks questions about the Open Government Partnership and the broader open government community. He questions the value of the data revolution and observes that the data revolution could create a “counter bureaucracy” -focusing on what is quantifiable rather than what matters.…(source)
6 November 2015
The GPSDD issues a statement indicating that the United Nations Foundation had been selected as its host.…(source)
5 November 2015
Carlos Lopes writes an article for SciDevNet titled How to secure Africa’s data revolution. Lopes writes about the need for financing, openness, and political will to make the data revolution a success in Africa.…(source)
4 November 2015
Mark Anderson and Kary Stewart post a podcast for the Guardian titled Measuring up: how open data could spur drive to meet global goals. The podcast’s interviewees talk about the data revolution within the context of the African Open Data Conference.…(source)
3 November 2015
Kate Anderson writes a blog post for the Brookings Institution called We have SDGs now, but how do we measure them? The post summarizes the meetings for the Inter-agency Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals in Bangkok. Anderson recommends that SDG indicators be flexible because the data revolution creates a different set of opportunities for tracking development.…(source)
2 November 2015
Derek Schwabe writes a blog post for Bread for the World titled Finding women in data on rural hunger. Drawing from the Brookings Institution’s recent Ending Rural Hunger report and its comments on missing data, Schwabe calls for the data revolution to focus on women and girls, especially in rural areas.…(source)
30 October 2015
Nat Wellington writes a blog post for Development Progress titled The importance of data for fighting poverty in Sierra Leone. The post highlights the data challenges in Sierra Leone including funding and capacity. The post provides recommendations to achieve the data revolution in the country.…(source)
28 October 2015
Jamie Drummond writes a post at the Huffington Post titled The secret ingredient that could turn a dry UN document into real change for a 15-year-old girl. He says that the Sustainable Development Goals should be “transformed into practical local scorecards” for local citizens through the data revolution and open government.…(source)
27 October 2015
Martin Tisne publishes a post to the Open Government Partnership blog titled The revolution will be open. Tisne says that data should be open to hold policy makers accountable, to verify and improve the data, and to look at how data are developed. He says, “A data revolution where only the powerful get privileged access to more and better data sounds like the opposite of a revolution to me.”…(source)
27 October 2015
Alicia Barcena publishes a blog post to Huffington Post titled Latin America and the Caribbean depend on open government for sustainable development. The post lists how open government initiatives, including the data revolution, will help Latin American countries reach the SDGs.…(source)
26 October 2015
Danny Sriskandarajah writes an article for the Inter Press Service titled Opinion: People-powered data set to transform dull statistics. The post talks about the major changes in data, the data revolution, and how they have the potential to change international development…(source)
23 October 2015
Duncan Green writes a blog post for Oxfam titled The politics of data – the bit the geeks forget? The post highlights a conversation between Dustin Homer and Green about the problems of data use in development. The article highlights several possible approaches to make the data revolution more relavent for data users.…(source)
22 October 2015
Alex Cobham writes a blog post titled Time for a gendered data revolution. The post highlights the potential to improving gender biases in economic statistics through the SDGs.…(source)
22 October 2015
Joan Hanawi writes a blog post for Huffington Post titled Why quality data matters for the Global Goals. The post highlights the potential of data to improve services in development operations and suggests that more should be done to improve data.…(source)
21 October 2015
The International Open Data Conference publishes a blog post by Bill Anderson titled The Open Data Charter: A breakthrough for joined-up data standards. He writes about the international Open Data Charter which he says “embraces the data revolution” and promotes standards that will facilitate usage.…(source)
20 October 2015
Forty-six organizations sign a statement titled Data for sustainable development – A statement for World Statistics Day. The statement calls for a data revolution and for greater actions to promote data openness, use, privacy, and technology.…(source)
20 October 2015
John Pullinger writes an article for the Guardian titled Why World Statistics Day is something worth celebrating. He says that while data are increasingly available, data use and comprehension should be improved.…(source)
20 October 2015
Development Initiatives publishes a blog by Bill Anderson titled What to do with one and a half billion dollars… The post says that one of the major goals of the data revolution should be to provide sustainable capacity-focused projects. The World Bank’s announcement to fund surveys is “short-sighted and unsustainable” according to Anderson.…(source)
20 October 2015
Claire Melamed writes an article for Significance Magazine titled Two years ago, the UN called for a ‘data revolution’. How far have we come? The article summarizes the history of the data revolution and then says that action is needed to ensure that the data revolution doesn’t simply benefit those with the most resources.…(source)
19 October 2015
Tim Herzog writes a post for the World Bank Open Data blog titled Two views on the data revolution. The post says that one view of the data revolution is a “high-level view” focused on standards and best practices and the other is the “ground-level view” in which “data is a high-potential resource waiting to be tapped to address thousands of local opportunities.” Both views, he says, are valuable.…(source)
15 October 2015
The World Bank publishes a press release announcing an effort to work with partners to carry out household-level surveys in “the 78 poorest nations” every three years. The report says that project is expected to cost $300 million every three years.…(source)
14 October 2015
Joshua Goldstein writes a blog post titled The data revolution has a software problem. The post discusses the challenges there are to data use in Tanzania and suggests that “modern, flexible web and mobile applications” are needed for the data revolution.…(source)
13 October 2015
Nancy McGuire Choi writes a blog post for Development Gateway titled Beyond data: Leadership, values, and the data revolution. The article asks “What are the core values and attitudes that should guide Data Revolutionaries?” Choi lists eight values that should be at the center of the data revolution.…(source)
7 October 2015
Data2X and Open Data Watch publish a paper titled Ready to measure: Twenty indicators for monitoring SDG gender targets. The paper provides recommendations for policy makers to advance a gender data revolution.…(source)
8 October 2015
Johannes Jutting writes a blog post for Huffington Post titled Why the SDGs are dangerous. The article lauds the consultative process of creating the SDGs but argues that much more needs to be done to effectively monitor them.…(source)
8 October 2015
Shaida Badiee and Eric Swanson write a blog post for the Open Data Watch titled Ending poverty needs better data. The article responds the World Bank’s latest poverty estimates but points to a recent assessment from the Independent Evaluation Group that points to obstacles in data quality. The article says that the data revolution should include increased resources to improve key indicators such as poverty.…(source)
7 October 2015
Jaime Adams writes a post on the USDA blog titled Harnessing the power of global open data. The article highlights how USDA is working with GODAN and the GPSDD to improve data to meet Global Goal 2.…(source)
7 October 2015
Savita Bailur writes a post for the Centre for Public Impact titled Open data: unlocking development potential in Africa and Asia. The post describes the potential of open data to motivate people to participate in development.…(source)
7 October 2015
Claire Melamed writes a post for the Guardian titled Describing poverty is no substitute for producing hard evidence to help end it. The article highlights the need for disaggregated, useful data on poverty.…(source)
October 2015
Martine Durand writes an article for the OECD Observer titled Getting the measure of the Sustainable Development Goals. The article highlights the need for data to track the Sustainable Development Goals.…(source)
5 October 2015
Derval Usher and Vanessa Okoth-Obbo write a blog post for the UN Global Pulse titled Data innovation for policy makers: Conference proceedings. The post is about a meeting in Indonesia called the International Conference on Data Innovation for Policy Makers which addresses issues in the data revolution.…(source)
5 October 2015
Development Initiatives writes a blog post titled Five reasons why ending poverty will be tougher than halving it has been. The post discusses the difficulty of reaching the goal to decrease poverty. The fifth point is that “there is need for a data revolution to sustainably improve data systems.”…(source)
5 October 2015
The World Bank issues a new policy note which changes the international poverty line to $1.90 per day…(source)
2 October 2015
Eric Swanson and Shaida Badiee write a blog post for the Royal Statistics Society blog titled You say you want a data revolution… The post discusses a proposed organization called WorldStat that is meant to monitor data quality and promote the values of the data revolution…(source)
2 October 2015
Greg Satell writes a blog for Forbes titled Has our faith in data been misplaced? The article says that as the data revolution has expanded, there have been more questions about it. For instance, there is trouble with replication of research studies, the data can be divorced from context, and we “can’t outsource our brains to the cloud.”…(source)
2 October 2015
Anoush Rima Tatevossian writes a blog post for UN Global Pulse announcing a new partnership with Quid, a platform that allows mapping and analysis on topics…(source)
1 October 2015
Citiscope publishes an article by Kanya D’Almeida titled Initiative aims to bolster subnational data as key to measuring SDGs progress. The article discusses the potential of the GPSDD, particularly the expansion of city data, to help achieve development outcomes…(source)
1 October 2015
Nathaniel Heller writes a blog post titled In Search of a more artisanal data revolution for the Results for Development blog. The blog criticizes the GPSDD as failing to give a data revolution from the bottom-up. He argues that much of the activities the GPSDD is doing are “self-congratulatory” general efforts that fail to consider the specific needs of people in specific contexts…(source)
September 2015
Mayra Buvinic and Ruth Levine publish a paper for Data2X titled What is wrong with data on women and girls? The article highlights the importance of addressing bad data and no data for gender-related issues to the data revolution…(source)
28 September 2015
Katie Clancy writes a blog post for the Open Data for Development Network titled Delivering common principles: A global call for adoption of the Open Data Charter as a mechanism for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The post discusses the launch of the Open Data Charter at the United Nations General Assembly on September 27th…(source)
28 September 2015
Amanda Glassman writes a post for the Center for Global Development titled Data for SDGs: Will the Global Partnership deliver for low-income countries? As the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data was formed, Glassman wonders if enough resources are being given to make the data revolution a success. In particular, many of the commitments made at the launch of the GPSDD do not seem to clearly support National Strategies for the Development of Statistics, a valuable resource for sustainable statistical development…(source)
28 September 2015
Penelope Starr writes a blog post for UN Dispatch titled More & better data for social good. The post describes the annual Social Good Summit and the importance of counting and surveying everyone, and improving the use and impact of data…(source)
28 September 2015
The Guardian publishes a post from Keiko Nowacka titled Measuring discrimination will bring the gender equality global goal a step closer. The article looks at the role of the gender data revolution on tracking the Sustainable Development Goals.…(source)
25 September 2015
Ruth Levine writes a post on the Hewlett Foundation blog titled Friday note: Will the data revolution live up to its name? The blog highlights some ways in which the data revolution may change the way we work, the way we think, and the relationship between the powerless and the powerful.…(source)
25 September 2015
Joel Gurin, Laura Manley, and Audrey Ariss write a blog post for the World Bank titled Sustainable Development Goals and open data. The post highlights how open data and the data revolution can add value to each of the Sustainable Development Goals …(source)
25 September 2015
PARIS21 publishes the PRESS2015 report which tracks levels of international support to development statistics. The report finds that despite the demand related to the data revolution, aid for statistics has decreased.…(source)
25 September 2015
The website for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data goes live. The website says that the group is “a global network of governments, NGOs, and businesses working together to strengthen the inclusivity, trust, and innovation in the way that data is used to address the world’s sustainable development efforts.”.…(source)
24 September 2015
Heather Higginbottom writes a blog post for the Huffington Post titled Unlocking progress with data. She highlights the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data as a key type of partnership being formed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals…(source)
23 September 2015
President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico publishes a blog at the Huffington Post titled Openness an essential building block for inclusive societies. President Nieto says, “Working together, open government and their citizens will harness the data revolution for sustainable development.”.…(source)
23 September 2015
Homi Kharas and Wolfgang Fengler write a post on the Financial Times’ beyondbrics blog titled Personalising data for development. The authors discuss the range of activities taking place in the data revolution and say that development practitioners will depend on the data revolution to meet future development needs…(source)
22 September 2015
Development Gateway publishes a blog by Dustin Homer titled The indicators behind the indicators. The blog mentions an effort by Development Gateway to improve the quality and use of results data.…(source)