[CODATA-international] Digital Feudalism

anatoly av at total-knowledge.com
Thu Oct 17 13:49:29 EDT 2019


Let it be a side note for the discussion since it is not in direct 
relation with the subject.

I want to address "IP is often a problem" -- No, IP is not "often a 
problem," in my view. IP is a global problem. The concept as such is a 
problem. Its implementation is a problem. Its perception by the wast 
majority of scientists "as reasonable instrument not to be abused" is a 
problem. Looking forward for a possible argument, I answer: There cannot 
be any "balance" in use of IP. It never played any positive role in 
development of science, arts, engineering -- generally speaking -- 
culture. IP is a global inhibitor of any positive development nowadays.

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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>
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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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