[CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism

anatoly av at total-knowledge.com
Thu Oct 17 13:33:36 EDT 2019


George, what do you mean by "imbalance in their relationship with 
researchers with access to funding"? Does the funding by West depend on 
ways of funds' distribution among researches? What would be the ideal 
balance in your view?

On 10/16/19 08:48, George Alter wrote:
> Dear Anatoly,
>
> I think that we are seeing this from the perspective of different 
> disciplines. I agree that IP is often a problem, but it is not the 
> only problem.
>
> In the case that I was describing, the African research center 
> actually "owns" the data, but they are dependent on funding sources in 
> the US and Europe for support.  This leads to an imbalance in their 
> relationship with researchers with access to funding.  I see this 
> imbalance in resources and power as the central problem.
>
> The "Afrobarometer" survey (http://www.afrobarometer.org/) may be a 
> model of interest in this discussion.  Afrobarometer is a survey of 
> attitudes about governance and society administered in 30+ countries.  
> There are similar surveys (Eurobarometer, Asiabarometer, 
> Latinobarometer, etc) in other regions, which are very widely used in 
> political science.    Afrobarometer started as a partnership between 
> universities in the US, South Africa, and Ghana.  At first, the center 
> of activity was in the US, but the headquarters and leadership were 
> transitioned to Africa. The US and South African partners continue to 
> be involved as "support units".
>
> Best,
>
>        George
> ---------------------------------------------------
> George Alter
> Research Professor, ICPSR
> Professor of History, University of Michigan
> PO Box 1248, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248
> Tel: 734-478-0783  Fax: 734-647-8200
> Email: altergc at umich.edu <mailto:altergc at umich.edu>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 11:15 AM Alex de Sherbinin 
> <adesherbinin at ciesin.columbia.edu 
> <mailto:adesherbinin at ciesin.columbia.edu>> wrote:
>
>     Dear Kiringai,
>
>     Thanks for your thoughtful response. I don't think that the cloud
>     makes in-country or regional investments in the establishment of
>     data repositories redundant. A repository could use the cloud for
>     storage or backup and still require domain expertise for the
>     curation, documentation and stewardship of data according to
>     community standards. Note that the CoreTrustSeal certification
>     requires repositories to identify their domain and mission, which
>     is considered critical for understanding the needs of the user
>     community.
>
>     One of the issues I have with the current approach to putting data
>     in open repositories (Dryad, Figshare, etc.) is that the data are
>     often not well documented (unless accompanied by a journal
>     article) or discoverable, e.g. through catalog searches. Something
>     else I've encountered in Africa is a reluctance by national
>     governments to entrust their data to cloud services hosted in
>     Europe or North America. There may really be no threat to data
>     security or breaches at all, but there is a perception that such a
>     threat exists or that this is a form of neo-colonialism
>     (exportation of data). Lastly, someone else raised the issue that
>     the cloud requires monthly fees. Unfortunately this may represent
>     an obstacle to donors, who can pay for infrastructure but not
>     necessarily monthly fees. Perhaps those policies can be changed in
>     recognition of the new reality. Or perhaps a continental/regional
>     approach could mean that a repository is supported by fees coming
>     from multiple member countries.
>
>     I am not opposed to a continental/regional approach to data
>     repositories, but where do we begin? With the AOSP? The African
>     Union? And is it just one big open repository serving all domains
>     from health to agriculture to climate or biological sciences, or
>     could we envision various domain repositories being set up with
>     core funding serving continental or regional needs (say under the
>     umbrella of ECOWAS or CILSS in the West African context)?
>
>     In any case - I wanted to make this point to the group at large,
>     in case others have thoughts. I would like to follow up with you
>     for some more discussions on possible GODAN-WDS collaboration in
>     the region.
>
>     Alex
>
>     On Sun, Oct 13, 2019 at 12:56 AM Kiringai Kamau
>     <kiringai.kamau at godan.info <mailto:kiringai.kamau at godan.info>> wrote:
>
>         Alex,
>
>         As you well mention, the Cloud makes in-country investments
>         redundant. and may to some extent be unnecessary. As Africa
>         moves to centralize rather than decentralize within the
>         Continental Free Trade Area and the Malabo Agendas, we may
>         want to think of Africa's open data space as the policy
>         environment where much of what emerges from your
>         workshop/conference will get better mileage for realization.
>
>         GODAN's Africa Agenda is to support a melting pot of
>         innovation using data. It is my view that once data is openly
>         available, the temptation of taking it away to any place or
>         location after a project is done becomes unnecessary. We make
>         a deal of data theft because someone having it has better
>         mileage in what they can propose to us...what if everyone has
>         access, can use and reuse the data for innovation-based not on
>         information asymmetry but rather on their ingenuity?
>
>         If we could do this, then the pan African institutions would
>         focus on what brings development rather than other parochial
>         interests...investment would be promoted and development achieved.
>
>         I would be keen to discuss with your team on the possibilities
>         of moving to a more centralized open data space that can
>         inspire innovation as we work together within the GODAN
>         Agenda. Unfortunately, we shall be finishing the Africa
>         Geospatial Data and Internet Conference in Accra at the time
>         yours kicks off.
>
>         Inbox me for further discussion on how we can work together.
>
>         Kiringai,
>
>         On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 9:53 PM Alex de Sherbinin
>         <adesherbinin at ciesin.columbia.edu
>         <mailto:adesherbinin at ciesin.columbia.edu>> wrote:
>
>             This conversation offers a good opportunity to make
>             everyone aware of a conference coming up on 23-25 October
>             in Dakar: "Open Science in the South: Issues and
>             Perspectives for a New Dynamic"
>             https://opensciencesud.sciencesconf.org/.
>
>             At this conference I am co-organizing with a colleague
>             from WDS (Arona Diedhou) and partners from Agrhymet,
>             Centre de Suivi Ecologique and WASCAL a workshop on
>             developing West African research data repositories. One of
>             the arguments I plan to make is that the absence of
>             national / regional repositories, along with policies in
>             countries requiring repatriation of data (or at least
>             maintenance of a copy in country), there will continue be
>             a lack of "restitution" of research findings and
>             development project data in the region. I'd be happy to
>             know if others are making such arguments, or if indeed in
>             the age of the cloud this seems too parochial. Obviously
>             this would require training and funding.  If anyone can
>             point me to initiatives that would support this effort,
>             that would be most welcome.  I am hoping to convince IRD,
>             the lead organizer, that investment in this area would be
>             a tangible output from the conference.
>
>             Cheers,
>             Alex de Sherbinin
>             vice chair, WDS scientific committee
>
>             On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 9:42 AM Kiringai Kamau
>             <kiringai.kamau at godan.info
>             <mailto:kiringai.kamau at godan.info>> wrote:
>
>                 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 <mailto: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
>                     <mailto:codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org>>
>                     on behalf of Trimpact - Niek <niek at trimpact.nl
>                     <mailto:niek at trimpact.nl>>
>                     *Sent:* 11 October 2019 18:12:22
>                     *To:* 'Ernie Boyko' <boykern at yahoo.com
>                     <mailto:boykern at yahoo.com>>; 'CODATA
>                     International'
>                     <codata-international at lists.codata.org
>                     <mailto:codata-international at lists.codata.org>>;
>                     'Suchith Anand' <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk
>                     <mailto: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
>                     <mailto:niek at trimpact.nl>- www.Trimpact.nl
>                     <http://www.trimpact.nl/>
>
>                     *Van:* CODATA-international
>                     <codata-international-bounces at lists.codata.org
>                     <mailto: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
>                     <mailto:codata-international at lists.codata.org>>;
>                     Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk
>                     <mailto: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
>                     <mailto: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, 1^st Floor, Nyaku
>                 House, Argwings Kodhek Road
>
>                 Cell: +254 722 800 986/+254 733 375 505
>
>                 *Email*: *kiringai.kamau at godan.info
>                 <mailto:kiringai.kamau at godan.info>* or
>                 kiringai at perfect.africa <mailto:kiringai at perfect.africa>
>
>                 */Website/*: www.godan.info <http://www.godan.info> or
>                 www.perfect.africa <http://www.perfect.africa>,
>                 */Tweeter/*: @kiringaik, */Skype/*: kiringai.kamau
>
>                 _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
>             -- 
>             --------------------------------------------------
>             Alex de Sherbinin, PhD
>             Associate Director, Science Applications Division
>             Deputy Manager, NASA SEDAC
>             CIESIN, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
>             P.O. Box 1000 (61 Route 9W), Palisades, NY 10964
>             Web: www.ciesin.columbia.edu
>             <http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu> and
>             http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu
>             Tel. +1-845-365-8936,  Skype: alex.desherbinin
>
>
>
>         -- 
>         _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
>         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, 1^st Floor, Nyaku House,
>         Argwings Kodhek Road
>
>         Cell: +254 722 800 986/+254 733 375 505
>
>         *Email*: *kiringai.kamau at godan.info
>         <mailto:kiringai.kamau at godan.info>* or kiringai at perfect.africa
>         <mailto:kiringai at perfect.africa>
>
>         */Website/*: www.godan.info <http://www.godan.info> or
>         www.perfect.africa <http://www.perfect.africa>, */Tweeter/*:
>         @kiringaik, */Skype/*: kiringai.kamau
>
>
>
>     -- 
>     --------------------------------------------------
>     Alex de Sherbinin, PhD
>     Associate Director, Science Applications Division
>     Deputy Manager, NASA SEDAC
>     CIESIN, The Earth Institute at Columbia University
>     P.O. Box 1000 (61 Route 9W), Palisades, NY 10964
>     Web: www.ciesin.columbia.edu <http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu> and
>     http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu
>     Tel. +1-845-365-8936,  Skype: alex.desherbinin
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