Emily F. Keller

Guidance for Responsible Big Data Research

“Ten simple rules for responsible big data research,” published in PLoS Computational Biology, provides practical guidance for big data researchers on the complexities of privacy protections, preventing re-identification of research subjects, and recognizing the difference between publicly available data and user consent for third-party research. This paper represents the work of the Council for Big Data, Ethics, and Society, funded by the National Science Foundation grant # IIS-1413864.

Authors: Matthew Zook, Solon Barocas, danah boyd, Kate Crawford, Emily Keller, Seeta Peña Gangadharan, Alyssa Goodman, Rachelle Hollander, Barbara A. Koenig, Jacob Metcalf, Arvind Narayanan, Alondra Nelson, and Frank Pasquale, March 30, 2017.

Read the paper here.

Supporting Ethics in Data Research

University campuses provide an ecosystem of support to technical researchers, including computer scientists, as they navigate emerging issues of privacy, ethics, security, and consent in big data research. These support systems have varying levels of coordination and may be implicit or explicit.

As part of the Supporting Ethics in Data Research project at Data & Society, we held workshops with twelve to sixteen student researchers,professors, information technology leaders, repository managers, and research librarians at a handful of universities. The goal was to tease out the individual components of ethical, technical, and legal support that were available or absent on each campus, and to better understand the interactions between different actors as they encounter common ethical quandaries.

 Read the final report.

Devices, Data, Waste

When Basel Action Network (BAN), an electronic waste watchdog organization in Washington, implicated Total Reclaim — a purportedly reliable waste company — in a trash tracking investigation for covertly shipping LCD monitors overseas, it illustrated the complexities of pursuing environmental responsibility amidst the growth of online computing.

In a recent apology statement issued in response to BAN’s discovery of two mercury-containing monitors at an undocumented facility in Hong Kong, Total Reclaim cited business pressures such as a drop in commodity prices and increasing labor costs, and emphasized the “dramatically increasing volume of flat-screen devices” as contributing factors to its “ethical lapses.”

The study found that nearly one-third of 200 tracked devices had been sent overseas by multiple companies, including Dell Reconnect, a partnership with Goodwill. As a result of the investigation, the e-Stewards program, which counts Total Reclaim as a founding member, has revoked its certification for two years, while citing a “broken” economic and regulatory system that fails to provide “a sustainable and ethical electronics recycling infrastructure.”

This comes as device ownership and data creation are growing substantially. The Pew Research Center found that 36% of Americans owned three devices — a smartphone, computer, and tablet — in 2015, compared with 15% in 2012. This proliferation of devices has caused toxic impacts at unregulated overseas facilities, far outside the purview of customers.

Prior to disposal, their use is generating a secondary environmental footprint via WiFi and mobile Internet use, drawing on natural resources to power a sprawling network of cloud data centers that support increasing storage, sharing, and streaming.

Read the full article on Data & Society: Points.

Perspectives on Big Data, Ethics, and Society

With Jacob Metcalf and danah boyd, prepared comprehensive white paper outlining the findings of the Council for Big Data, Ethics, and Society hosted by Data & Society Research Institute and funded by the National Science Foundation. This paper discusses the disconnect between traditional ethics regulations and emerging big data research, providing recommendations for policy and pedagogical interventions to incorporate current ethics issues into industry practice and academia. Read the white paper.

Big Data Ethics Support Systems and Networks

A presentation by Emily F. Keller and Bonnie Tijerina on the Supporting Ethics in Data Research project at Data & Society Research Institute, which explores the current and potential partnerships between computer science researchers, librarians, and support systems on campus to address emerging ethical issues in the research process.

 

Pedagogical Approaches to Data Ethics

This report examines data ethics curricula and trainings from undergraduate and online courses to masters and doctorate programs, and provides historical background information, federal funding requirements, and current trends. Written and researched with Jacob Metcalf and Kate Crawford on behalf of the Council for Big Data, Ethics, and Society hosted by Data & Society Research Institute. Read the report.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Pitch Day Promotes Innovation, Transparency, Entrepreneurship

In an innovative approach to sourcing ideas for funding, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) conducted an open call for applicants—in 1,000 characters or less—to share an idea and their vision for how it could change the world. More than 500 individuals and organizations shared submissions, which reflected some of our country’s greatest health challenges: access to quality care, the social determinants of health, leveraging the abundance of data available to improve outcomes and accelerating the current pace of discovery.

Last week, a team of health care and science experts from RWJF and other organizations gathered to listen and evaluate the resulting set of groundbreaking health care proposals in front of a live audience as part of an effort to open up the philanthropic application process and increase innovation. This first-ever Pioneer Pitch Day took place at the New York headquarters of AppNexus and consisted of eight fast-paced presentations by finalists, followed by questions from a rotating panel of judges and the audience, for a total pitch time of ten minutes each.

You can read the full article, published on Transparency Talk, by clicking here.

gIn an innovative approach to sourcing ideas for funding, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) conducted an open call for applicants—in 1,000 characters or less—to share an idea and their vision for how it could change the world. More than 500 individuals and organizations shared submissions, which reflected some of our country’s greatest health challenges: access to quality care, the social determinants of health, leveraging the abundance of data available to improve outcomes and accelerating the current pace of discovery.

Last week, a team of health care and science experts from RWJF and other organizations gathered to listen and evaluate the resulting set of groundbreaking health care proposals in front of a live audience as part of an effort to open up the philanthropic application process and increase innovation. This first-ever Pioneer Pitch Day took place at the New York headquarters of AppNexus and consisted of eight fast-paced presentations by finalists, followed by questions from a rotating panel of judges and the audience, for a total pitch time of ten minutes each.

- See more at: http://blog.glasspockets.org/2013/10/keller-20131023.html#sthash.vqo5lQnY.kRbKyBzG.dpuf

In an innovative approach to sourcing ideas for funding, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) conducted an open call for applicants—in 1,000 characters or less—to share an idea and their vision for how it could change the world. More than 500 individuals and organizations shared submissions, which reflected some of our country’s greatest health challenges: access to quality care, the social determinants of health, leveraging the abundance of data available to improve outcomes and accelerating the current pace of discovery.

Last week, a team of health care and science experts from RWJF and other organizations gathered to listen and evaluate the resulting set of groundbreaking health care proposals in front of a live audience as part of an effort to open up the philanthropic application process and increase innovation. This first-ever Pioneer Pitch Day took place at the New York headquarters of AppNexus and consisted of eight fast-paced presentations by finalists, followed by questions from a rotating panel of judges and the audience, for a total pitch time of ten minutes each.

- See more at: http://blog.glasspockets.org/2013/10/keller-20131023.html#sthash.vqo5lQnY.kRbKyBzG.dpuf

    In an innovative approach to sourcing ideas for funding, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) conducted an open call for applicants—in 1,000 characters or less—to share an idea and their vision for how it could change the world. More than 500 individuals and organizations shared submissions, which reflected some of our country’s greatest health challenges: access to quality care, the social determinants of health, leveraging the abundance of data available to improve outcomes and accelerating the current pace of discovery.

Last week, a team of health care and science experts from RWJF and other organizations gathered to listen and evaluate the resulting set of groundbreaking health care proposals in front of a live audience as part of an effort to open up the philanthropic application process and increase innovation. This first-ever Pioneer Pitch Day took place at the New York headquarters of AppNexus and consisted of eight fast-paced presentations by finalists, followed by questions from a rotating panel of judges and the audience, for a total pitch time of ten minutes each.

- See more at: http://blog.glasspockets.org/2013/10/keller-20131023.html#sthash.vqo5lQnY.kRbKyBzG.dpuf

Special Report One Year After Sandy: Are The City's Most Storm-Vulnerable Communities Being Heard?

Contributed reporting to the Gotham Gazette special report exploring community responses to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, “A Stronger, More Resilient New York,” one year after Hurricane Sandy. You can read the series here.

The Social Sector, Government and Civil Society Collaborate for U.N. Millennium Development Goals

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nears, philanthropic leaders convened at the Ford Foundation on September 27 to discuss methods for effectively collaborating with the social sector, government, and private sector to ensure their work leads to substantive long-term change. Panelists discussed the significance of transparency and accountability in achieving the MDGs.

The MDGs, created in 2000, consist of eight goals to fight poverty, hunger, and disease, empower women, protect maternal health and children, and ensure environmental sustainability across the globe. Targets include cutting poverty in half, stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS, and providing universal primary education. Governments have been tasked with setting and implementing the MDGs, but philanthropy plays a significant role in supporting these processes and helping to shape the post-2015 international development agenda spearheaded by the U.N. That effort has yielded the collection of input from 1.5 million people and counting through a program called A Million Voices: The World We Want.

You can read the full article, published on Transparency Talk, by clicking here.

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) nears, philanthropic leaders convened at the Ford Foundation on September 27 to discuss methods for effectively collaborating with the social sector, government, and private sector to ensure their work leads to substantive long-term change. Panelists discussed the significance of transparency and accountability in achieving the MDGs. - See more at: http://blog.glasspockets.org/2013/10/keller-20131009.html#sthash.sMorKcxa.vGQFXonn.dpuf

Foundations Incorporate Beneficiary Feedback into Decision-Making to Boost Accountability and Outcomes

    Foundation leaders who want to increase the accountability of their work should consider supporting efforts to solicit feedback from beneficiaries, say three experts in the field of conducting recipient assessments.

    To succeed, the feedback must be representative, actionable, systematic, and comparable, said Fay Twersky, Phil Buchanan, and Valerie Threlfall in a webinar presented last month by the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). The webinar was based on the article, "Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries," written by the webinar speakers and published in the spring 2013 issue of SSIR.

    Read the full article on Transparency Talk, a Foundation Center blog, by clicking here.