What do the two crises have in common? It seems that many of the advocacy and regulatory arguments made around new data protections are eerily similar to the arguments made during the call for regulation of the financial industries.
Alix Dunn
Alix co-founded The Engine Room in 2011, and co-led the organisation before becoming the first Executive Director from June 2015 until she stepped down in September 2018.
Shifting Gears at The Engine Room: Why I’m proud of our work, and why it’s time for me to go
Today we are launching a recruitment process for my successor. This post outlines the problem we have worked to solve, our role in solving it, and the ‘why now’ of my transition out of the organisation.
Going beyond ‘do no harm’: Developing data principles with DataKindUK
DataKind UK decided to develop a set of principles to guide their work in a process led by their network of volunteers (in DataKindUK fashion).
Diversity is a competency
I see diversity not just as the right thing or the politically correct thing to do to avoid being embarrassed by call out culture, but as a core competency of any organisation. Where I see a homogeneous monoculture, I see an organisation that cannot be effective. An all-male management team? In the long run, you have a very slim chance at succeeding, unless your goal is to serve all-male communities.
Takeaways from the Digital Verification Corps Summit
Last week, I had the privilege of spending three days on the Berkeley campus with the Digital Verification Corps, (DVC) the student cohort that has been driving video verification, processing, and high velocity support to process video for Amnesty International investigations and other human rights investigations.
Rubber Meets Road: Making Responsible Data Design Choices
I spend a lot of time talking to people about how to use technology and data strategically to evolve their teams, supercharge their ideas, and experiment with new opportunities.
Meet Our Two New Board Directors: Elizabeth Lindsey and Ivan Sigal
As an organisation, The Engine Room makes a lot of choices. Some of them big: Who will we accept funding from, how will we grow smartly? Some of them small: should we go to this event or that event, what colour should the background of that website be? When you add up all of these […]
Information Vertigo: How the social sector can build credibility to counter effects of disinformation
Organisations that act in the public interest, and work to organise communities around common causes have the credibility to ground us. And yet it is rare to see public interest institutions with forceful credibility, engage with the broader public through media channels that the public actually uses.
Three Tactics for Responsible Data Planning
Following my last post about the ‘Innovative Uses of Technology in HIV Clinical Trials’ event, I wanted to share three tactics for managing responsible data complexity in program design. With a room full of PhDs, Mds, MPHs, MBAs and MScs (and sometimes a combination of several of each), what could the responsible data perspective offer? […]