Don’t forget people in the use of big data for development, by Joshua Blumenstock

In this article, Blumenstock outlines the way that big data has been promised to help society; by analyzing the patterns found in big data, humanitarian aid can become more efficient, poverty mapping easier, and make large organized efforts, such as epidemic prevention, more effective. Blumenstock then shows the realities preventing these promises, such as algorithm bias, lack of regulation, and solutions that don’t help the intended demographics. To address these issues, Blumenstock suggests validation through conventional data collecting methods, better addressing of local context when implementing a big data solution, and expanding collaboration between the private sector companies doing big data research and social change organizations that can better steer the research.

I resonate with the final quote used in the article that describes data science as “a blend of Red-Bull-fueled hacking and espresso-inspired statistics.” There has never been so much data to do research with, and for a researcher, or developer, or anyone else looking to use this data, it must feel like winning the lottery. This has lead to the creation of many services which turn out to be unnecessary.

For example, I recently learned about the company what3words. Their service maps every 3-meter square of the globe and assigns it a unique 3 words as its address. The point of this service is to offer a way to remember locations that is as simple as memorizing a street address, with the same precision as using latitude and longitude. what3words is becoming popularized in many areas around the world that don’t have specific street addresses and is even used for emergency medical services. There are many issues with the service, but one of the most prominent is that the three words that are chosen can be homophones, like plain and plane. If your location is “bread-wallet-plane,” but there is a “bread-wallet-plain” a few miles from you, this can become dangerous, especially when what3words is being used to send ambulances to the proper places. Incidents like the one I’ve described have already happened, and the company has not done anything to stop them.

The story of what3words shows how the private sector has used big data and the tech revolution to make a quick buck with no long term goals for sustainability. The reality is that we cannot trust services like the ones described by Blumenstock to be under the control of private companies with the goal of making money.

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