Data inequalities and why they matter for development

ABSTRACT

The ‘data revolution’ marks a time of growing interest and investment in data – big, small, or otherwise. Critical attention to data is also proliferating, exposing the diverse ways that data produces inequality of opportunity and harm in society. This paper draws the nascent field of critical data studies into conversation with emerging narratives in data-for-development (D4D) to advance the conceptualization of data inequalities, explaining how they both align with and diverge from core tropes of digital inequalities research – and why this matters for development. The paper examines the causes, consequences, and potential solutions to three ‘data divides’ – access to data, representation of the world as data, and control over data flows – through examples of digital identity systems and national data infrastructures, user-generated data, and personal behavioral data produced through corporate platforms. This understanding provides a basis for future research, practice, and policymaking on data-related (in)equalities in development contexts and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• Data for development
• digital divide
• data divide
• big data
• platform capitalism
• open data

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Jonathan Cinnamon is a broadly trained geographer with a current research focus on datafication and digitalization in urban, health, and development contexts. His work develops methods for data production and visualization for low-resource settings, and attends to the ethical and political implications of data and technologies in processes of social change. This research has been funded by research councils in Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Prior to his current position at Ryerson University, Jonathan was a faculty member at the University of Exeter, and he has held visiting positions at Wits University in Johannesburg, and Ohio State University.

ORCID

Jonathan Cinnamon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7383-6886