Being a ‘Guardian’ of Data
Hello from ODC’s Communications Lead
by Cat Cortes
I am one of the ‘guardians’ of Data now and I invite you to be one too. When I received the news that I will be joining the Open Data Charter team as their Communications Lead, Singapore (where I am located) was easing into “Phase 2”. That meant the resumption of some businesses and activities. Many other countries have begun to find themselves in a similar, but not quite ‘post-pandemic’ era. Not all governments were able to safeguard our communities from the surmountable challenges that have erupted like a Pandora’s box since the beginning of 2020. We’ve witnessed the world’s ill-preparedness for health-related catastrophes, fragmentary healthcare systems, inadequate institutional support for mass unemployment across multiple industries, compounding challenges among genders and minority communities… the list goes on. Unlike Greek mythology, however, with organisations like ODC as real-life guardians of Data, I believe we are in a better position to keep doing better, for as long as data-driven solutions are carried out with openness and privacy rights in mind.
I first encountered the use of open data in governance when I was part of the communications team at the British High Commission, Singapore, and when Graham Nelson, former founder of the UK Foreign Office’s Open Source Unit (OSU) , visited Singapore and introduced us to his work. Discovering that a dedicated team in the UK government was transforming policy with data, was illuminating. It was a bridge from the past to my present, reminding me of the values I learned from the open source software community that I grew up with: transparency, collaboration, and accessibility. I have worked and led communications teams in the development and social impact sector for most of my career, and those same values have stayed with me.
I mentioned being a guardian because ODC’s mission feels exactly that–being a guardian of a superpower called Data. We help advocate for its ethical use forging it with transparency and privacy rights for all. I am emboldened to be a part of this team, especially at this time of vital social change. Our communities (other guardians of human rights) are standing up to systemic problems like racism, while governments and leaders across the globe are finally considering solutions such as defunding the police, which were once deemed radical. With many of us ready to right such long-withstanding wrongs and hold people in positions of power accountable, we have begun to see the outline of an improved world.
My hope is the work, which the Open Data Charter has laid out in the last few years, combined with my experience and enthusiasm for growing communities — that together as guardians of Data, we will move along this powerful trajectory and make the ODC’s strategy for 2020–2021, a part of the new and kinder world that we want to live in and help shape.