This is my final blogpost. I have finally and sadly come to an end of what I can call as an adventurous experience. It would be appropriate to define this blog-writing assignment as challenging but at the same time highly entertaining.
This was my first time of writing and managing a blog. And, from writing a communication plan to setting up and managing social media accounts, from writing blogposts to writing a group report, this assignment which was rather time-consuming and full of new tasks that I am not familiar with, made me further challenge myself.
In my blogposts, I have tried to embrace a more free-style writing to reach out to audiences from different backgrounds. By drawing inspiration from my personal experiences, especially after my first post which was rather tentative in terms of embracing a writing style, I have focused on connecting with the audience by showing vulnerability and putting emotions into my writings.
I could easily say that my blogposts leaned more towards the theme of social media with still finding grounds from data and artificial intelligence. I have been aiming at finding recent and interesting topics that I would like to explore, as my understanding was that if I talk about a topic that I am keen on and enjoy, this would reflect on the blogposts.
I have enjoyed the process and learned a lot from it. I would like to point out a particular aspect of the process that I found highly entertaining which is managing the social media accounts. After having a bit of research, we as a group have clarified a strategy in terms of how to use social media to represent and present “No Cap”. As a person who finds how social media grows brands and increase attractions intriguing, to use social media professionally and strategically for the first time was a valuable experience.
With that being said, this assignment inspired me to continue sharing my thoughts and experiences. I have not still decided through which platform and which medium I should try connect to people but hopefully, soon I will fulfil my wish.
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic still continues to penetrate our lives at every level. While many countries have already started experiencing second waves, steadily rising case numbers and death rates have started ringing the alarm bells. With many countries have been struggling to control the pandemic, many governments and international agencies have resorted to different methods of data collection with tracking apps or data-driven tools to control and curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Zwitter & Gstrein, 2020, p.1) It has recently emphasized in United Nations (UN) World Data Forum held between October 2-6, that COVID-19 increased the significance to address data gap and ensure the quality and fast data to “leave no one behind”, which is among sustainable development goals (SDGs) of UN. (devinit.org, n.d) Indeed, reliable data can support decision making in international development in the midst of a crisis where any change happens rapidly. (Naudé & Vinuesa, 2020, p.1) Thus, if data gap in Global South can be bridged, it can possibly have a meaningful impact on Global South’s and so on the world’s response to the pandemic. However, we should remember that data is a double-edged sword and it needs to be treated cautiously. As Zwitter and Gstrein (2020) highlights, increasing need to obtain data in times of COVID-19 challenges the notion of responsible data use while putting data privacy and protection at stake. (p.1) Therefore, in this academic blogpost, while emphasizing the importance of the data in response to a global pandemic, I will first try demonstrate the growing need to overcome data deprivation in Global South amid a crisis, and then I will elaborate on how data collection can also pose hazards particularly in terms of data privacy.
Covid-19 & Data as a Response
It has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic first identified in the Hubei province of China in December 2019. It has rapidly spread across the globe until it pushed World Health Organization (WHO) to officially declare it as a pandemic in March 2020. (WHO, 2020) While total COVID-19 cases globally have passed 71 million so far, more than 1.6 million people have lost their lives. (Reuters Graphics, 2020)
To fight maybe the worst crisis since the Second World War, from the emerging of the novel coronavirus to today, data has been embraced as a significant element to respond to pandemic by governments and agencies. By providing better and faster assessment of the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, data can lead to improved decision making in terms of global development. (Naudé & Vinuesa, 2020, p.1) While data that is obtained from contact tracing and surveillance can be a useful tool to track and predict the spread of the virus, it could also provide insight on how the health impact is linked to economic activity or lockdown measures. (Naudé & Vinuesa, 2020, p.1) As stated by economist Itay Fainmesser, data that can be utilized in fight with the pandemic varies from location, interactions data to health history or even blood pressure levels. (Ercolano, 2020) However, Naude and Vinuesa (2020) emphasise that the most invaluable data in times of a global crisis appears as real-time, reliable data. Therefore, while quality, real-time data can lead to enhanced, targeted response to the COVID-19 pandemic, or even more generally to poverty and inequality, lack of data, especially in times of COVID-19 can have fatal outcomes. (Melamed, 2020)
In these cases, the data might do more harm than good. In particular, data can hide the deep divisions within our societies, and further marginalise the poorest and most vulnerable people who are typically invisible in data. (Melamed, 2020)
“Leave No One Behind” by Bridging the Data Gap
Considering that the lack of good quality, reliable and real-time data can poorly affect policy decision in considerably regular times meaning that when we as a humanity do not face a global crisis, COVID-19 has only made it clearer of the need to convenient, disaggregated and open data. (devinit.org, n.d) According to The Sustainable Development Goals Report (UNSD, n.d) data that is essential in providing fast and accurate responses still can not be equally distributed or accessed around the world. Therefore, UN’s sustainable development goal of “leave no one behind” is further challenged by the enhanced data inequalities enforced with the COVID-19 crisis.
It is estimated that COVID-19 pandemic will push between 88 million to 150 million people into extreme poverty. (The World Bank, 2020) While COVID-19 does not necessarily change the distribution of poverty, it surely intensifies it by affecting already more vulnerable people and less resilient regions of the Global South. (devinit.org, n.d) Therefore, to ensure that no one leaves behind in the context of COVID-19, it is fundamental to take into account of the ability or inability of many countries in the Global South to produce and handle trustworthy statistics.
“Leave No One Behind”
Essentially, it is important to comprehend what it is meant and underlined with the goal of leaving no one behind within the sustainable development context. Leave no one behind is one of the primary commitments and principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (UNSDG, n.d) It can be considered as a promise from UN Member States to eradicate poverty and discrimination as well as to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities that fundamentally undermines the potential and results in people to leave behind. (UNSDG, n.d)
HOW DATA GAPS PUT PEOPLE’S LIVEs IN DANGER?
It is safe to say that with discrimination, poverty and exclusion continuing becoming a part of our world, there is still way much to do to ensure that no one leaves behind. While Cinnamon (2019) points out access to data is often divided based on where you live, economic conditions and social lines, it is also safe to say that data inequality is not a new concept, and thus, when we consider that our world is becoming more and more data-centric these inequalities at times pose enormous challenges to achieve sustainable development goals. Consequently, with COVID-19 crisis pushing offline worlds to become online or to at least have online elements and at a time when numbers inevitably matter even more to set decisions and implement responses in fight with COVID-19, data gaps arise as life-threatening problems and they continue to widen.
“Numbers affect our ability to care, share empathy, and donate to relief efforts and emergency services.” (Milan & Treré, 2020) Hence, this also goes for data. However, most countries of Global South are virtually lacking the necessary data or this “number-based narration”. (Milan & Treré, 2020) As of April 2018, an estimated 1 billion people live without proof of legal identity worldwide, with nearly half of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa. (ID4D, n.d) CEO of Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, Claire Melamed states (2020) being invisible in terms of data can mean being excluded. Thus, as aforementioned, lack of data or data gaps can indicate to being excluded from policy decisions. In the context of COVID-19, this can result in not being counted when deciding lockdown measures, fiscal support, or how many ventilators and nurses are needed. (Melamed, 2020)
BRIDGING THE DATA GAP, HOW?
Discussions above prove the urgency to plug the data gap that is intensified with COVID-19 to implement more efficient and comprehensive policy decisions. In order to bridge this gap, we need comprehensive approach in partnership and collaboration. Trusted partnerships are needed across ministries, statistics offices as well as across civil society organisations and private sector to systematically collect, share and utilize the data. (devinit.org, n.d)
As it is accentuated in The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020, we also need investment and innovation in data collection approaches to support SDGs and crisis response. (UNSD, n.d) Investments are required both to sustain sufficient coverage of all groups of people and to securitize data quality and consistency. (UNSD, n.d) As pointed out in UN World Data Forum, innovation in data collection approaches can include web-based surveys and crowdsourcing data directly from citizens.(devinit.org, n.d) Melamed (2020) adds that comprehensive systems with good data infrastructures are needed along with educated and engaged people in the long term to ideally optimize data collection for eliminating inequalities.
While to ensure the justly disaggregation of data is crucial for liability, it has become even more vital with the COVID-19. Better disaggregation of data should stay as a main goal and a tool; however, we need to be aware of the challenges that growing need of data collection can pose in terms of data responsibility.
Data Privacy & COVID-19
Data that is collected to fight with the COVID-19 compounds its importance to analyse the impact and outcome of a pandemic. Nonetheless, as Fainmesser says “the problem is that once the data is collected, it can have many other uses”. (Ercolano, 2020) This means that unless the private information of people obtained from the data is securely protected, these can be maliciously handled by different actors within their own agendas.
Data which is used and processed by governments or humanitarian organizations could include personal and sensitive information that is utilized to track and identify people. (Centre for humdata, n.d)
The disclosure of sensitive data in humanitarian response can lead to already vulnerable people and communities being further harmed or exploited. (Centre for humdata, n.d)
Zwitter and Gstrein (2020) demonstrates that while data collection with such as location data or tracking apps is promising in combating the emergency, their usage involves issues regarding data protection and privacy. (p.5) It also needs to be considered that the data is circumstantial. For instance, while location data can be quite beneficial in the context of COVID-19, the same data can hurt the law, democracy and human rights in a political crisis. (Zwitter & Gstrein, 2020, p.3-4) Therefore, Zwitter and Gstrein (2020) suggests that even in the time of a pandemic, clear, democratic and legal frameworks are needed to ensure the responsible usage of the data. (p.4)
Conclusion
In this blog, by embracing a more academical structure I have tried to fulfil an in-depth exploration of data collection during COVID-19 crisis. Increasing urgency of data collection in a crisis like this to inform better and overarching policy choices highlights the need to overcome several challenges including data gap and protection of data. By particularly looking from the angle of ensuring to leave no one behind in the context of COVID-19, I have tried to demonstrate that persistent problem of data gap especially in some countries of Global South should be addressed to include them in faster and improved decisions by suggesting that being excluded could be fatal. On the other hand, I have tried to put emphasis on another enduring challenge of data collection, which is data privacy. The problem of responsible data use in the midst of a crisis is not new. (Zwitter & Gstrein, 2020, p.1) However, as aforesaid, with COVID-19 enforcing the usage of large sum of datasets, data protection and privacy are increasingly coming at stake. As argued by Zwitter and Gstrein (2020), the crisis environment should not justify breaches in data protection. Consequently, while governments and agencies should thrive to eliminate the data gaps that are intensified with COVID-19, ethical and responsible data usage should not be sacrificed as when data is not managed accountably, it could do more harm than good.
What do you think of the increasing need to collect data in COVID-19 crisis? What else can be done to bridge data gaps? Do you think that the data protection and privacy can be sacrificed at times of crises?
References
Zwitter, A., Gstrein, O.J. (2020). Big data, privacy and COVID-19 – learning from humanitarian expertise in data protection. Int J Humanitarian Action 5, 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41018-020-00072-6
Cinnamon, J. (2019). Data inequalities and why they matter for development. Information Technology for Development, 26:2. (p.214-233). https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2019.1650244
Naudé, W., Vinuesa, R. (2020). Data, global development, and COVID-19: Lessons and consequences. WIDER Working Paper 2020/109. Helsinki: UNU-WIDER. https://doi.org/10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2020/866-5
Melamed, C. (2020). In the fight against Covid-19 data gaps are costing lives. Apolitical. Retrieved from https://apolitical.co/en/solution_article/in-the-fight-against-covid-19-data-gaps-are-costing-lives
Milan, S., Treré, E. (2020). A widening data divide: COVID-19 and the Global South. openDemocracy. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/openmovements/widening-data-divide-covid-19-and-global-south/
Ercolano, P. (2020). For the Public, Data Collection During Covid-19 Offers Benefits—And Poses Hazards. Johns Hopkins University Hub. Retrieved from https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/07/24/itay-fainmesser-online-data-collection/
Centre for humdata. (n.d). Data Responsibility. Retrieved from https://centre.humdata.org/data-responsibility/
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Archived: WHO Timeline – COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news/item/27-04-2020-who-timeline—covid-19
Reuters Graphics. (2020). Tracking the spread of the novel coronavirus. Retrieved from https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-MAP/0100B59S39E/index.html
The World Bank. (2020). COVID-19 to Add as Many as 150 Million Extreme Poor by 2021. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/10/07/covid-19-to-add-as-many-as-150-million-extreme-poor-by-2021#:~:text=The%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic%20is,severity%20of%20the%20economic%20contraction.
United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG). (n.d). Universal Values Principle Two: Leave No One Behind. Retrieved from https://unsdg.un.org/2030-agenda/universal-values/leave-no-one-behind
The World Bank, Identification for Development (ID4D). (n.d). Global-dataset – Data Visualisation. Retrieved from https://id4d.worldbank.org/global-dataset/visualization
UNSD. (n.d). The need for data innovations in the time of COVID-19. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/the-need-for-data-innovations-in-the-time-of-COVID-19/
Devinit.org. (n.d). UNWDF virtual roundtable Data to leave no one behind in the context of Covid-19: Practical steps from Benin and beyond. Retrieved from
Featured Image retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/digital-solutions-to-fight-covid-19-shortcomings-protecting-privacy-and-personal-data
