Understand the power of data: The Data Frontier podcast series
If there is one thing the global COVID-19 pandemic has shown clearly to governments, citizens, and organisations, is the importance of data. Whether it comes to modelling virus prevalence, prioritising vaccines among population groups, or understanding citizen movements during lockdowns, the new language we have been exposed to, and the day-to-day news cycle following the pandemic, are proof that digital data for decision making has entered the mainstream.
And what is true for the opportunity for digital data in tackling COVID-19 extends into other global challenges. Emerging data technologies that can combine new and traditional forms of data — from satellite data to passive mobile phone location to AI techniques, can be used to tackle the pressing issues of 2021 and beyond. For the FCDO, data-driven technologies have enormous potential to support its work.
The starting point: questions about data
Last year, the Frontier Technologies Hub commissioned the NIRAS Digital Futures Hub to explore questions colleagues at then-DFID had around data. Their report: Frontier data study: Releasing the power of digital data for development scans the new landscape of emerging data sources, highlights key data-driven technologies that can be harnessed now, as well as providing guidance and tools for non-data specialists in international development on how to use data-driven technologies the right way. The aim of the report is to inspire development practitioners to engage with the newest data-driven technologies and instruct on how to harness these intelligently, efficiently, and safely.
The Podcast series
Since the study was commissioned, DFID and FCO merged to form FCDO, so we felt this was an opportunity to review data needs across the whole organisation and take this conversation further: to hear from practitioners and thought-leaders who are using these new data technologies. To share what we learned, the Frontier Technologies Hub has produced The Data Frontier, a 7-part podcast series examining the newest uses of data in development and diplomacy, with people at the heart of the data frontier. In each episode, we hear from a guest using digital data in different ways.
Here are the 7 episodes to listen to at your leisure:
Counting Cows: Putting data science tools in the hands of development decision-makers — Tim Harris, user engagement lead for the Data Science Hub of the Data Science Campus, FCDO/Office for National Statistics
Complex Cities, Digital Data: Building urban climate resilience through the locally-led production of new data — interview with Edward Anderson, Senior Technology and Resilience Specialist for the World Bank based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Mapping humanity: using frontier data technologies and AI to provide hyper-local spatial data around the world — interview with Melissa Persaud, Director of New Business, Global Development at Fraym, about their pioneering work using frontier data technology to produce hyper-local (1km² level) spatial data where data is traditionally hard to access
Governing Data: Unlocking new and existing data sources for public decision making — interview with Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer of the Governance Laboratory (The GovLab) at New York University (NYU)
How to engage with data: Promoting data science in government and beyond — interview with Tom Wilkinson, Data Science Hub Lead of the Data Science Campus, FCDO/Office for National Statistics
Data and diplomacy: frontier data for diplomacy and international relations work at the FCDO — interview with Harriet Cross, the UK High Commissioner to Trinidad & Tobago
Building back better: the new data paradigm and how we can use it to build strong and inclusive societies — interview with Emmanual Letouze, Director and co-Founder of Data-Pop Alliance, a coalition on Big Data and development co-created in 2013 by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, MIT Media Lab, and Overseas Development Institute.
We hope you enjoy the series!
Do let us know what resonated with you from the interviews, and if you haven’t already read the study, you can find it and three accompanying user guides here: