Over the last few years as people have become more aware of the power of data and how it can impact people’s lives both positively and negatively, there has been need to think more ethically about how we build systems and use data, especially when the impacts of bad data use impact vulnerable and marginalised communities disproportionately.
Data ethics is a relatively new field which seeks to address some of the challenges brought about by data use and a number of different frameworks and guides have been created that can help you make decisions within the design, implementation and management of a data enabled project.
Many frameworks are focussed towards a particular tool such as Artificial Intelligence or sector such as healthcare or public sector, but they all share the same goal, and that is to make data use more responsible, fairer and equitable.
We have included below some frameworks and tools, as well as some more academic articles on the subject.
If you are interested in ethics not only for everyday use, but understanding how ethics has evolved, we recommend the resources and free short course from the Australia’s Ethics Centre.
If you want to know more about data and ethics and how you can use it to create better and more inclusive products and services, get in touch
Practical data ethics
UK Government Data Ethics Framework https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-ethics-framework
ODI’s data ethics resources https://theodi2022.wpengine.com/article/the-data-ethics-canvas-2021/
Socitm resources on data ethics
Artificial Intelligence
Ada Lovelace Institute’s programme on Ethics and Accountability in Practice
Academic texts
What is data ethics? (by L. Floridi and M. Taddeo)
On Missing Datasets (by M. Onuoha)
General
Connected By Data – organisation and programme of work focused on treating data as something that belongs to people rather than an abstracted resource
Greater Manchester’s Declaration for Responsible and Intelligent Data Practice http:www.declaration.org.uk
Ethics resources
The Ethics Centre https://www.ethics.org.au
Short free course on ethics https://ethics.org.au/knowledge/