The Center for Media, Data, and Society (CMDS) at the School of Public Policy (SPP) at Central European University (CEU) co-hosted, along with the Open Society Archives, the Budapest Responsible Data Forum, part of a collaborative event series organized around the world since March 2014. The Responsible Data Forum is organized by the engine room and Aspiration, with Amnesty International, DataKind, Open Knowledge Foundation, Privacy International, and Ushahidi, and with the generous support of the Open Society Foundations and Hivos.
Data and information are central to advocacy work, and intentionally or not, activists, researchers, and civil society groups are collecting it—through surveys, mappings, record keeping, and everyday communications. While data and communication tools can strengthen advocacy work, they can also put communities and activists at risk if they are not managed carefully and responsibly. Dr. Kate Coyer, Director of the CMDS Civil Society and Technology Project, explains, “These workshops are an invaluable opportunity for scholars and practitioners to work together to develop useful tools and strategies for responsibly addressing emerging data and privacy challenges. The outputs from the workshop and the energy and inspiration generated is a credit to the collaborative process modeled and championed by Aspiration and the engine room.” In addition to the meeting in Budapest this week, the Responsible Data Forum has also met in New York, Amsterdam, and Oakland, California. The next forum will take place in Nairobi on October 28th.
Photo credit: @willowbl00