[CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism

Kiringai Kamau kiringai.kamau at godan.info
Mon Oct 14 12:08:37 EDT 2019


Thanks, Ross,

GODAN has finalized an MoU with African Universities offering Agriculture
so that we can collaborate in the delivery of capacity building
initiatives. Our role as GODAN is simply to promote collaboration at
diverse levels with the stakeholders that our partners in government,
academia, and research seek to see in their network.

We would be excited to support any such efforts through the learning and
research platforms that can emerge riding on the open data agenda.

Sincerely,

On Mon, Oct 14, 2019 at 8:13 AM Ross Wilkinson <ross.wilkinson at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi all, and in response to Geoffrey’s request, I think a key measure of
> success of open data activities is partnerships formed, such as happens in
> Godan. In Australia, an opening up of astronomical pulsar data led to new
> partnerships between Australian and Chinese researchers. On the other hand
> partnerships need trust, so the issues that have been raised often reduce
> trust. I like the African Open Data Platform because it enables trust
> building and this new partnerships
>
> .....Ross
> Ross Wilkinson
> +44 7491 705532 new European number
>
>
>
> .....Ross
> Ross Wilkinson
> +44 7491 705532 new European number
> On 13 Oct 2019, at 10:54 am, Florida Maritim <Florida.Maritim at kalro.org>
> wrote:
>
> Drs. Kassim and Kiringai,
>
>
>
> I concur since this is not the 1st time experts have come up with good
> ideas but they reach the dead-end for not being inclusive and
> multi-displinary and thanks for sharing and sincerity and this happens a
> lot even in the agricultural research sector in sub Saharan Africa, we have
> a number of excellent technologies and miss out on the adoption.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Floridah
>
> *From:* CODATA-international [
> mailto:codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org
> <codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org>] *On Behalf Of *Kiringai
> Kamau
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 12, 2019 3:44 PM
> *To:* Mwitondi, Kassim <K.Mwitondi at shu.ac.uk>
> *Cc:* CODATA International <codata-international at lists.codata.org>
> *Subject:* Re: [CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism
>
>
>
> Kassim, Niek
>
>
>
> As you rightly say, most of the projects are undertaken from a top-down
> perspective, with limited sharing of knowledge among all the actors ... the
> beneficiaries rarely get to see the definition of the mission and the
> impatience to get started by those coming with the project funds creates no
> opportunity for any preparedness among the beneficiary partners. Where
> knowledgeable persons exist, they may only be hosted within institutions.
> In many cases, such institutions are not core/key actors in the
> problem/project definition. They are only invited, by a higher privileged
> office/officer, when everything has been defined and pathways of
> implementation determined at a political level they cannot question.
> Economic or political interests are the pathways that those with interests
> use to take advantage of a system they may know presents the opportunity to
> give them leeway to mine data for their use and leave with it. The projects
> therefore are not defined with any other intention other than the data
> sourcing for a song and empty promises by those portending to possess the
> knowledge that will develop a beneficiary country.
>
>
>
> Realizing this challenge, the Global Open Data for Agriculture and
> Nutrition convened with ministers of the South-South an Open Data
> Conference in Nairobi where a Declaration was formulated. We are currently
> supporting African countries to evolve policies and frameworks that can
> advise compliance to national, regional and global agendas and in the
> process build local capacity key of which is data governance. I am
> convinced that we can sport feudal inclinations on behalf of partner
> countries in projects and therefore request anyone formulating a project
> that they feel should be bottom-up and create local knowledge should link
> up with GODAN through Suchith or myself (in case your area of focus is
> Africa).
>
>
>
> Thanks, Suchith for sharing the Feudalism concerns.
>
>
>
> Kiringai Kamau
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 10:16 AM Mwitondi, Kassim <K.Mwitondi at shu.ac.uk>
> wrote:
>
> This is an instance of a biased data ownership. A few years ago I was
> working with a young African researcher on an agro-forestry research
> project. No sooner had we started than I realused that her centre had only
> some descriptive statistics but no direct access to the biomass data which
> she and her colleagues had spent months collecting from two islands! The
> vast chunk of the data had left with the development partners at the end of
> the project. It turned out, nobody at the centre had any knowledge or
> pressing interest to pursue the data and there was already new initiatives
> to run another project, which in my view was almost a duplicate of the
> first, but this time with a different development partner.
>
> To cut the long story short, I have come across several cases of data
> ownership of this nature and my view is that it doesn't help much coining
> terminologies, as the best that can be achieved is a blame culture. Would I
> call that data capitalism? Colonialism? Feudalism? I never would! I have
> learnt, over the years, that proper problem identification is a major
> stride in working out the solution. Blaming it on one part marginalizing
> the other when it comes to data generation, access and ownership is
> stripping everyone on the project of a fundamental responsibility in
> managing the project.
>
> Apparently, the problem starts with the project write-up. If the project
> recipient is fully engaged from project initiation to delivery, they surely
> should know how to access the data, as that is a key project deliverable.
> My personal experience is that there are a several factors that lead to
> this kind of situation. One, many project ideas are top-down, that is, they
> are not developed within the working conditions of the recipients. Two,
> there are often many gaps in engagement, mainly caused by near disparate
> motives on many projects, with the funders, experts and recipients not
> necessarily having the same perception, motives or knowledge. Put the two
> together and add the determined project timeline, you have a near disaster.
> But the tripartite interests to run projects continues and we are creating
> a vicious cycle. What is the solution? It must start from the recipients
> who must align each incoming project with their respective development
> strategies. They must present themselves as equal partners in defining the
> project problem and tracking and measuring its outcomes. They should be
> able to quantifiable identify what worked and what didn't and any there
> should be national institutions charged with such responsibility. I could
> be writing all night, I would rather stop here for now.
>
> Thanks.
>
> KSM
>
> Dr Kassim S. Mwitondi
> Sheffield Hallam University
> Faculty of Science, Technology and Arts
> Communication & Computing Research Centre
> 9410 Cantor Building, City Campus
> 153 Arundel Street
> Sheffield, S1 2NU
> United Kingdom
> Tel. +44-114-2256914 (Direct)
> Tel. +44-114-2255555 (General)
> https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/kassim-mwitondi
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* CODATA-international <
> codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org> on behalf of Trimpact -
> Niek <niek at trimpact.nl>
> *Sent:* 11 October 2019 18:12:22
> *To:* 'Ernie Boyko' <boykern at yahoo.com>; 'CODATA International' <
> codata-international at lists.codata.org>; 'Suchith Anand' <
> Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>
> *Subject:* Re: [CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> This is indeed a huge problem. I also recently learned that information
> data from NGOs are best perhaps shared with some ministries in Bamako,
> Mali, but not within a region where the work is being done. This implies
> that local decision makers remain dependant on the information/data stream
> back from the ministries which may take some months, if ever. This can
> never be the purpose of the work executed.
>
>
>
> Since most of the projects are financed with public funding for the
> benefit of de people in the given (development) country and
> data/information belong in fact to the real funds provider of the work
> (i.e. tax payers), claims of intellectual property rights that data belong
> to the project executors seem not applicable. Consequently, data and other
> information (e.g. lessons learned) should be shared at large to the
> population and other relevant stakeholders to avoid duplication of efforts.
>
>
>
> A discussion worthwhile to be continued.
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
>
> Dr. Niek van Duivenbooden
>
>
>
>   *Bringing value to life*
>
>
>
> Mezenlaan 138  -  6951 HR Dieren  -  The Netherlands – T +31 61 13 81 061
>
> KvK: 64218422   - niek at trimpact.nl - www.Trimpact.nl
> <http://www.trimpact.nl/>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *Van:* CODATA-international <codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org>
> *Namens *Ernie Boyko
> *Verzonden:* vrijdag 11 oktober 2019 15:26
> *Aan:* CODATA International <codata-international at lists.codata.org>;
> Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk>
> *Onderwerp:* Re: [CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism
>
>
>
> Thank you Suchith,
>
> I have not heard that term before but I did run into   related term this
> week at the DDI-CODATA workshop here in Dagstuhl.  The term is Data
> Colonialism.  This often happens when a foreign entity (e.g., a development
> agency/project).e data are collected in a developing country and are taken
> out of the country.  They will leave behind some summary tables but will
> take the rich data and metadata away.  This makes it difficult to develop
> the data analysis and management skills within the country.
>
>
>
> Thanks for the message.
>
>
>
> Cheers, Ernie
>
> +1-613-290-2804
>
> *Larrimac:  More than a golf course!*
>
> *CODATA: Making data work together to improve science to support decision
> makers.*
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Friday, October 11, 2019, 08:51:29 AM EDT, Suchith Anand <
> Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I came across a recent op-ed by Prof. Mariana Mazzucato on “Digital
> Feudalism”  at
>
>
>
>
> https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/platform-economy-digital-feudalism-by-mariana-mazzucato-2019-10?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d192f2bc47-sunday_newsletter_6_10_2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-d192f2bc47-105013549&mc_cid=d192f2bc47&mc_eid=a8cee90b20
>
>
>
> Prof. Mazzucato is a leading researcher and thinker on Technology and
> Innovation, advisor to the European Commission on research and innovation
> strategy, and author of two important books on the subject “The Value of
> Everything” and “The Entrepreneurial State”.
>
>
>
> The report on “Mission-oriented Research and Innovation in the European
> Union” might be of interest
>
> https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/mazzucato_report_2018.pdf
>
>
>
> Since the use of cloud platforms for GIS data analysis is having a huge
> impact on the GIS community, the subject is of relevance. I would like
> learn more on this
>
>    1. Are there any examples of Digital Feudalism in GIS?
>    2. How will Digital Feudalism in GIS affect our future generations?
>    3. What policies are governments, regulators doing to reduce Digital
>    Feudalism in GIS?
>    4. What policies and curriculum are universities, educators adopting
>    to reduce Digital Feudalism in GIS?
>
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
> Suchith
>
>
>
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> --
>
>
> _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
>
> Kiringai Kamau
>
>
>
> *GODAN Africa Lead*
>
> Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA Africa)
>
> *GODAN Head Office*
>
> 845 Sherbrooke Street West, *Montreal*, Quebec, Canada H3A 0G4
>
> Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road,
> Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9
>
>
>
> *Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA)*
>
> PO Box 1618, 00100 GPO Nairobi, 1st Floor, Nyaku House, Argwings Kodhek
> Road
>
> Cell: +254 722 800 986/+254 733 375 505
>
> *Email*: *kiringai.kamau at godan.info <kiringai.kamau at godan.info>* or
> kiringai at perfect.africa
>
> *Website*: www.godan.info or www.perfect.africa, *Tweeter*: @kiringaik,
> *Skype*: kiringai.kamau
>
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-- 
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Kiringai Kamau

*GODAN Africa Lead*
Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA Africa)

*GODAN Head Office*

845 Sherbrooke Street West, *Montreal*, Quebec, Canada H3A 0G4

Macdonald Campus, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road,
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9



*Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA)*

PO Box 1618, 00100 GPO Nairobi, 1st Floor, Nyaku House, Argwings Kodhek Road

Cell: +254 722 800 986/+254 733 375 505

*Email*: *kiringai.kamau at godan.info <kiringai.kamau at godan.info>* or
kiringai at perfect.africa

*Website*: www.godan.info or www.perfect.africa, *Tweeter*: @kiringaik,
*Skype*: kiringai.kamau
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