Aidnography

I just read through the first 135 pages of the recently released 320 page OECD Development Co-operation Report 2017-Data for Development . The first part Making data for development is followed by detailed profiles of all the members of the organization’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) which I am skipping for the moment. Besides a general discussion about the value of annual ‘flagship reports’, the document is an important artifact to learn more about the consensus that an organization like the OECD presents when it comes to a topic like data for development. The report is visually appealing, chapters are well referenced with contemporary literature and most of them provide good summaries of the topic. And the overarching message that good data systems to achieve the SDGs are important and often lacking is a necessary reminder for the OECD-DAC community. But as a researcher and teacher I am also interested in approaching such a substantial document with a critical, perha

From the Snowden leaks to the ‘ deep state ’ -why the surveillance state is an issue for development. Edward Snowden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Snowden-2.jpg) Maybe the Snowden-NSA-surveillance debate does not have a direct and obvious link to ICT4D or development debates. In fact, I do not recall reading many comments in the development blogosphere that explicitly link these two issues. The absence of a broader debate may have partly to do with the overall fatigue and fatalism that Snowden’s leaks and the subsequent reporting seem to incur, but partly also with the depoliticized nature of large parts of the ICT4D and development community. I believe that our believe in open data, ICT 4 Good , the positive power of the Internet and mobile technology should be shaken by the transatlantic discoveries, rights violations and revelations that once seemed to be confined to conspiracy websites. Nothing suggests that other states, institutions or companies would not foll

I am little bit surprised that I have not come across more critical writing on the recent World Bank-IMF spring meeting that took place in Washington, DC last week. However I did notice some engagement in the preliminary official civil society policy forum , most notably Jennifer Lentfer’s engagement . The other piece was a contribution by Huff Post blogger Rebecca Harris ‘ Knowledge Is Power: Transparency and ParticipationWill Be the Drivers of Effective Development ’ which openly promotes the official World Bank discourse about a changing, more transparent and accountable Bank. If this is how large aid organisations will interpret the ‘OpenAid’ discourse, it will stay at the level of ‘data CSR’ without having an impact on actual organisational accountability or transparency (the Swedish, quite literally, are a visible proof how the access to aid data can be made easy and approachable even for non-academic experts on this topic). There are two very interesting points to point out wi

Alternative title: Have bureaucracy, will organize meetings: The UN’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution It started with casual Twitter feed browsing on Sunday and a short exchange of tweets between Zara Rahman and me:  @zararah lack of social science/anthro/humanities etc is quite striking; i expect v. narrow debates-gender only adds 2 tunnel vision — Tobias Denskus (@aidnography) August 31, 2014 So I had a closer look at the UN ’ s press release and to be honest, afterwards questions about gender distribution or the ‘North-South’ divide did not seem to be the most pressing ones. While I have absolutely no doubt about the technological and technical expertise of the group members, I wonder why the UN went for the most conservative, most quantitative, most statistics-driven approach to the ‘data revolution’ to fulfill its ambitious goal: The Group is also expected to assess new opportunities linked to innovation, technical progress and the s

Hello all, As we are approaching the 100th link review we have another great week with great pieces written by some great friends! This week features IDS' new digital repository; a new report violence and suffering of Nepali migrants; Oxfam, USAID & the difficulties of really listening to stakeholders; the futile 15 seconds of fame that come with post-2015 MDG exercises; NGOs, M&As and the business of aid; German TV & refugee p€rn; would you tell an energized crowd the truth about development? Behavioral economics-what are they good for? Why the revolution will not be open datazised; and a look at an ideal college. Enjoy! New on aidnography Popular Representations of Development (book recommendation) This collection highlights how if we look beyond conventional academic studies and policy reports - for example to films, posters, or fiction - then we may learn something new. For example, we may find forms of knowledge and representation that humanise development proces

Hi all, Another full round-up of great readings this week! Development news: The WHO-Mugabe communication #fail; How cash helps in Puerto Rico; the UN's ceremonial beehives; data risks & registering Rohingya; people keep sending too much stuff to Houston; emergency sexwork; women's cooperatives; micro insurance for migrants in Thailand; UN-reform; Jamaica's anti-queer violence & its colonial roots; working with UN bloggers, NIKE likes robots; Mozambique's forgotten East German history; 'purpose has become an empty slogan'. Our digital lives: Working with Guardian's audience engagement; will Google/Alphabet take over Toronto? Big data from the South. Publications: Communicating vaccines; state fragility; social media in Brazil; tech & migrants. Academia: Reflections on Open Access Week. Enjoy! New from aidnography A few reflections on the new OECD flagship report on Data for Development Almost right from the beginning of the report ‘data’

Hello all, As some of the more political science-minded among you have probably noticed, this week's annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA) got cancelled . I wasn't planning to attend in the first place (The Monkey Cage had an interesting discussion about the whole cancel-not cancel/ attend-not attend scenario), but I took the opportunity and suggested a virtual panel via a Google HangOut and it looks like this will be happening tomorrow, Friday 31 August from 12 noon to 1p.m. EST (drop me a line if you are interested to join but I will also tweet details). The original panel 'Issues of and Responses to Internet Governance' will likely be reduced to two nonetheless interesting presentations: JP Singh (Georgetown University) will present 'Representing Power: Participation and Deliberation in ICT4D Projects and Internet Governance' and Daniel Esser (American University) will present a paper he and I co-wrote together: 'Do Socia