Data Democracy a Challenge for Future

Media Release: Monday 8 April 2019

The rapid growth of electronic data has great potential to benefit society, but we need to think about how to manage data in a fair way that honours individual rights, argues a new film, Data Democracy.

The film, commissioned by Federation University Australia’s Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation, explores the many opportunities and challenges of the digital era.

Communities can now interact with data in ways that were impossible to imagine a few short decades ago. The speedy collection of medical data from many sources has benefited millions of patients.

Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus

Data Democracy aims to inform and inspire discussion on the issues of fairness, access, sharing and communicating data in the technological era.

The film features leading experts Paul Box (CSIRO), Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus (CeRDI), George Fong (ex-Internet Australia), Professor Richard Sinnott (University of Melbourne) and Dr Gillian Sparkes (Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability).

Dr Gillian Sparkes Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability

Quotes attributable to Associate Professor Peter Dahlhaus:

“How do you put a value on data? It is very hard to explain to government the importance of data when its value may only be appreciated in ten or 15 years time.”

Quotes attributable to Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, Dr Gillian Sparkes:

“Better access to data could help Victorians understand and make decisions about their environment. I want to know what’s happening in my coast. I want to understand what’s going on in my bay.”

George Fong, Lateral Plains

Quotes attributable to Founder of Lateral Plains, George Fong:

“We probably produce more data as opposed to information in a single day than the entire period before the digital revolution.”

“The other side of it is that not all data should be free. There is some data that should be kept private. Citizens of the world should be rightly concerned about how that data is being interpreted.”

Source: Fed Uni News