Paper details

Paper authors	Prithvi Hirani
In panel on	Data and Displacement: Data Justice in Humanitarian Targeting
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Information or data has always played an important role in the humanitarian sector. However, the digitisation and drive toward the democratisation of data collection and use over recent years has transformed the sector. Catalysed by new technologies, the drive for more open-source data and the creation of platforms for sharing data such as the Humanitarian Data Exchange, the humanitarian data ecosystem appears to be thriving. In this context, further interrogation of gaps between the promise and practice of data in the humanitarian sector is pressing, as is a more detailed understanding of the character of the humanitarian data ecosystem and its development over time. This paper draws on a series of in-depth qualitative interviews with humanitarian data experts, to reflect on varied conceptualisations of the data ecosystem as well as of the perceived drivers of its development. Specifically, the paper focuses on three key dimensions: the meaning of humanitarian data and its utility (or lack thereof), the efficacy of humanitarian data in decision-making, and questions surrounding ethics and risks that emerge with data and technological innovation. In so doing, the paper sheds light on key challenges facing digital humanitarianism at the current juncture, while emphasising the need for a dynamic and multifaceted conceptualisation of the humantiarian data ecosystem.

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