Data Colonialism and Digital Sustainability: Problems and Solutions to Current Trends in Digitalization

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Data Colonialism and Digital Sustainability: Problems and Solutions to Current Trends in Digitalization
Problems and Solutions to Current Trends in Digitalization
The Global Dialogue Security Summit
12 December 2020
PD Dr. Matthias Stürmer
Research Center for Digital Sustainability
Institute of Computer Science
University of Bern
Data Colonialism and Digital Sustainability

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Opportunities of Digitalization
− Information is «free» and can be shared easily and quickly
− Many digital resources are freely available (open data, open source…)
− Digital communication channels are used to transfer information
− This leads to more education, deeper insights, better decisions etc.

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Data Today and Tomorrow
Source: https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/our-story/trends/files/idc-seagate-dataage-whitepaper.pdf
Name Number
1 kilobyte (kB) 1’000 10^3
1 megabyte (MB) 1’000’000 10^6
1 gigabyte (GB) 1’000’000’000 10^9
1 terabyte (TB) 1’000’000’000’000 10^12
1 petabyte (PB) 1’000’000’000’000’000 10^15
1 exabyte (EB) 1’000’000’000’000’000’000 10^18
1 zettabyte (ZB) 1’000’000’000’000’000’000’000 10^21

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Challenges of Digitalization
− Loss of information or no access to information
− Information overload, fake news
− Threats to security and privacy
− Hacking attacks, ransomware
− Ethical issues with AI
− Dependency on
IT corporations
(GAFAM)

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Market Power of GAFAM (or FAAMG)
Source: https://finanzmarktwelt.de/facebook-apple-amazon-microsoft-und-google-sind-mehr-wert-als-das-bip-deutschlands-92179/

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Big Tech compared to GDP of India
7 big tech companies from US and
China are 3x bigger than GDP of India:
Company Market Capitalization
Apple $ 2’078’000’000’000
Microsoft $ 1’621’000’000’000
Amazon $ 1’587’000’000’000
Google $ 1’235’000’000’000
Facebook $ 796’660’000’000
Tencent $ 721’140’000’000
Alibaba $ 719’580’000’000
Total $ 8’758’380’000’000
6 December 2020 – https://companiesmarketcap.com

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Big Tech compared to GDP of India
7 big tech companies from US and
China are 3x bigger than GDP of India:
Company Market Capitalization
Apple $ 2’078’000’000’000
Microsoft $ 1’621’000’000’000
Amazon $ 1’587’000’000’000
Google $ 1’235’000’000’000
Facebook $ 796’660’000’000
Tencent $ 721’140’000’000
Alibaba $ 719’580’000’000
Total $ 8’758’380’000’000
6 December 2020 – https://companiesmarketcap.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

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Data Colonialism
Nick Couldry, professor of media, communications and
social theory at the London School of Economics and
Political Science (LSE):
− In the past, European nations colonized countries in
Africa, the Americas and Asia (North-South)
− Today, American and Chinese tech companies are
conquering personal and governmental data
− Direct parallels between the two eras:
1. Appropriation of resources (land/gold vs. data)
2. Big economic profit for the owners
3. Ideologies of the owners cover up real problems
Source: https://colonizedbydata.com

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Data Sovereignty
− Sovereignty has renewed relevance in
the age of data in India
− Enabling the construction of data as a
resource
− Big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
− Ownership and community data
− Sovereignty through data localisation
Source: https://internetdemocracy.in/reports/data-sovereignty-of-whom/

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Source: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld
17 Sustainable Development Goals

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Resources worth protecting
Economy
Humans
Planet
Knowledge

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Classification of Goods
Sources: Musgrave, R. A. (1959). The Theory of Public Finance. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Ostrom, E., & Schlager, E. (1996). The Formation of Property Rights. In S. Hanna, C. Folke & K.-G. Mäler (Eds.), Rights to Nature (pp. 127–156). Island Press
Private Goods Club Goods
Common
Goods
or common-pool
resource (CPR)
Public Goods
Rivalry
non-rival
(virtual goods)
rival
(physical goods)
excludable
non-excludable
Excludability
e.g. Proprietary Software
e.g. Open Source Software

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Duality of Digitalization and Sustainablity
1. Sustainable Digitalization:
Digitalization as a means to an end for sustainable development
a) Using potential of digitalization to reduce waste, CO2 emission, resources etc.
b) Reducing negative consequences of digitalization by reducing use of electricity,
using renewable energy, applying modular design, extending duration of use etc.
2. Digital Sustainability:
Digital knowledge as a resource worth protecting for society
a) Using digitalization to spread knowledge freely, share data and software etc.
b) Reducing appropriation of digital knowledge, lowering control by corporations,
the loss of privacy, loss of information etc.

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Duality of Digitalization and Sustainablity
1. Sustainable Digitalization:
Digitalization as a means to an end for sustainable development
a) Using potential of digitalization to reduce waste, CO2 emission, resources etc.
b) Reducing negative consequences of digitalization by reducing use of electricity,
using renewable energy, applying modular design, extending duration of use etc.
2. Digital Sustainability:
Digital knowledge as a resource worth protecting for society
a) Using digitalization to spread knowledge freely, share data and software etc.
b) Reducing appropriation of digital knowledge, lowering control by corporations,
the loss of privacy, loss of information etc.

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10 Basic Conditions for Digital Sustainability
Elaborateness Transparent
Structures
Semantic
information
Distributed
location
A) Digital Artifact
Source:
Stuermer, M., Abu-Tayeh, G. and Myrach, T.
(2017). Digital sustainability: basic conditions
for sustainable digital artifacts and their
ecosystems, Sustainability Science 12:
247-262. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0412-2

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Structures
Semantic
information
Distributed
location
Open licensing
regime
Shared tacit
knowledge
Participatory
culture
Good
governance
Diversified
funding
Creation of
digital artifacts
Use of
digital artifacts
A) Digital Artifact
B) Ecosystem
Source:
247-262. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0412-2

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Source:
247-262. doi:10.1007/s11625-016-0412-2
Structures
Semantic
information
Distributed
location
Open licensing
regime
Shared tacit
knowledge
Participatory
culture
Good
governance
Diversified
funding
Contribution to
sustainable
development
Creation of
digital artifacts
Use of
digital artifacts
A) Digital Artifact
B) Ecosystem C) World

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Paradigm Shift
Goal of digital sustainability:
To maximize the benefits of
digitalization for society today
and tomorrow
(intra- and
intergenerational justice)

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Linked Open Data
Sources: https://5stardata.info/en/
make your stuff available on the Web
(whatever format) under an open license
make it available as structured data
(e.g., Excel instead of image scan of a table)
use non-proprietary formats
(e.g., CSV instead of Excel)
use URIs to denote things,
so that people can point at your stuff
link your data to other
data to provide context

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https://lod-cloud.net/

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Open Source Licenses
https://timreview.ca/article/416

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Source: https://home.cern/news/news/computing/migrating-open-source-technologies

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Collaborative Open Source Development
Open source software
development with Git
Source: https://build5nines.com/introduction-to-git-version-control-workflow/

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https://creativecommons.org
Open Content Licenses

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Wikipedia

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OpenStreetMap
https://openstreetmap.in/#4.33/22.82/82

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Mobile Apps Based on OpenStreetMap Data
Sources: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Android https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Apple_iOS

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Source: https://opensourceseeds.org Laursen 2017 “Plant breeders test drive first open-source seed bank” Nature Biotechnology 35, 700 https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0817-700

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Sources: http://www.opensourcepharma.net https://www.ospfound.org/open-source-covid-19-vaccine.html
Munos 2006 “Can open-source R&D reinvigorate drug research?” Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 5, 723–729 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd2131

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Speaker Profile

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PD Dr. Matthias Stürmer
Head of the Research Center for
Digital Sustainability
University of Bern
Institute of Compter Science
Schützenmattstrasse 14
CH-3012 Bern
Phone: +41 31 631 38 09
Mobile: +41 76 368 81 65
Tel: +41 31 631 38 79 (secretary)
Twitter: @maemst
matthias.stuermer@inf.unibe.ch
www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch
Matthias Stürmer
− Since 2013 head of the Research Center for Digital Sustainability at the Institute of
Computer Science (INF) at University of Bern, lectureshop on digital sustainability at IWI
and lectureship on digital transformation at INF
− 2010 to 2013 at EY (Ernst & Young) as Senior Consultant/Manager in IT Advisory:
Consulting on Open Source Software, Open Data and Social Media
− 2009 to 2010 business development and project manager at Liip AG
− 2006 to 2009 research assistant at ETH Zurich with Prof. Georg von Krogh at the Chair of
Strategic Management and Innovation
− 2000 to 2005 studies in business administration and computer science at the University of
Bern, licentiate thesis on Open Source Community Building
− Since 2017 member of the Smart Capital Region Working Group
− Since 2016 president of the association Digital Impact Network
− Since 2012 board member and co-founder of the Opendata.ch association
− Since 2009 secretary of the Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability
− Since 2006 member of the board of the association CH Open
− 2011 - 2019 City Councillor of Bern
https://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch/about_us/persons/pd_dr_stuermer_matthias/index_eng.html

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Research Center for Digitale Sustainability
https://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch

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Research Center for Digitale Sustainability
− Research center at the Institute of Computer Science of University of
Bern since 2014, team of 25 employees
− Research (including 2 ongoing SNSF projects) on digital sustainability,
Open Source Software, Blockchain and Smart Contracts, Open Data and
Linked Data, Open Government and Smart City, as well as public
procurement
− Lectures on Open Data, digital sustainability, requirements engineering,
supervision of bachelor, master, and PhD theses
− Offers for ICT procurement practitioners: CAS Public Procurement and
CAS Technology Procurement, Swiss IT Procurement Conference, Training
Days, Roundtables, Platforms like www.intelliprocure.ch
− Services such as consulting, expert opinions, studies, prototyping etc. for
universities, federal administration, cantons, cities, companies etc.
− Cooperation with various organizations such as Smart Capital Region etc.
https://www.digitale-nachhaltigkeit.unibe.ch

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