Human Development and the Data Revolution
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-19-887914-5 (ISBN)
Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Human Development and the Data Revolution explores the uses of large-scale data in the contexts of development, in particular, what techniques, data sources, and possibilities exist for harnessing large datasets and new online data to address persistent concerns regarding human development, inequality, exclusion, and participation.
Employing a global perspective to explore the latest advances at the intersection of big data analysis and human development, this volume brings together pioneering voices from academia, development practice, civil society organizations, government, and the private sector. With a two-pronged focus on theoretical and practical research on big data and computational approaches in human development, the volume covers such themes as data acquisition, data management, data mining and statistical analysis, network science, visual analytics, and geographic information systems and discusses them in terms of practical applications in development projects and initiatives. Ethical considerations surrounding these topics are visited throughout, highlighting the tradeoffs between benefitting and harming those who are the subjects of these new approaches.
The authors explore the potentials of big data analysis for development but also the challenges and limitations for its usefulness in contexts of development, illuminating how the measurement and analytical choices made in using big data analysis are far from being neutral or value-free considerations.
Human Development and the Data Revolution explores the uses of large-scale data in the contexts of development, in particular, what techniques, data sources, and possibilities exist for harnessing large datasets and new online data to address persistent concerns regarding human development, inequality, exclusion, and participation.
Employing a global perspective to explore the latest advances at the intersection of big data analysis and human development, this volume brings together pioneering voices from academia, development practice, civil society organizations, government, and the private sector. With a two-pronged focus on theoretical and practical research on big data and computational approaches in human development, the volume covers such themes as data acquisition, data management, data mining and statistical analysis, network science, visual analytics, and geographic information systems and discusses them in terms of practical applications in development projects and initiatives. Ethical considerations surrounding these topics are visited throughout, highlighting the tradeoffs between benefitting and harming those who are the subjects of these new approaches.
The authors explore the potentials of big data analysis for development but also the challenges and limitations for its usefulness in contexts of development, illuminating how the measurement and analytical choices made in using big data analysis are far from being neutral or value-free considerations.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
603 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-887914-5 (9780198879145)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Sanna Ojanperae is a quantitative researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and The Alan Turing Institute.
Eduardo Lopez is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences, George Mason University.
Mark Graham is the Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Eduardo Lopez is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences, George Mason University.
Mark Graham is the Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute.
Editor
Quantitative ResearcherQuantitative Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and The Alan Turing Institute
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Computational and Data SciencesAssociate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Computational and Data Sciences, George Mason University
Professor of Internet GeographyProfessor of Internet Geography, Oxford Internet Institute
Content
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Sanna Ojanperae, Eduardo Lopez, and Mark Graham: Introduction
1: Sanna Ojanperae, Eduardo Lopez, and Mark Graham: Opportunities and Challenges of Data-driven Development
2: Nuria Oliver: Big Mobile Data for Social Good: Opportunities and Challenges
3: Bitange Ndemo: Digital Forms of Exclusion, Big Data, and Measurement of UN Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: An Ecological Systems Theory Perspective
4: Emmanuel Letouze: Making Human Measurement Matter for Human Development: Towards a Theory of Change for the Data Revolution and "Human AI"
5: Christopher Njuguna and Patrick McSharry: Predicting Socioeconomic Status Using Big Data
6: Bruno Lepri, Nuria Oliver, and Alex Pentland: Reinventing the Social Contract in an Age of Big Data
7: Sriganesh Lokanathan, Thavisha Perera-Gomez, and Shazna Zuhyle: Leveraging Big Data for Public Purposes in the Global South: LIRNEasia's Experiences
8: Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis: Advancing Human Development with Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Work from Uganda
9: Vukosi Marivate and Nyalleng Moorosi: Extracting Insights in and around Government: Experiences in South Africa
10: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Digital Data Handling: A Tutorial Approach
11: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Sources of Big Data in Global Development
12: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Methods for the Analysis of Big Data in Development
13: Richard Heeks: Data Justice for International Development: A Structural Model and Manifesto
14: Linnet Taylor: The Ethics of Big Data as a Public Good: Which Public? Whose Good?
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Sanna Ojanperae, Eduardo Lopez, and Mark Graham: Introduction
1: Sanna Ojanperae, Eduardo Lopez, and Mark Graham: Opportunities and Challenges of Data-driven Development
2: Nuria Oliver: Big Mobile Data for Social Good: Opportunities and Challenges
3: Bitange Ndemo: Digital Forms of Exclusion, Big Data, and Measurement of UN Sustainable Development Goals in Africa: An Ecological Systems Theory Perspective
4: Emmanuel Letouze: Making Human Measurement Matter for Human Development: Towards a Theory of Change for the Data Revolution and "Human AI"
5: Christopher Njuguna and Patrick McSharry: Predicting Socioeconomic Status Using Big Data
6: Bruno Lepri, Nuria Oliver, and Alex Pentland: Reinventing the Social Contract in an Age of Big Data
7: Sriganesh Lokanathan, Thavisha Perera-Gomez, and Shazna Zuhyle: Leveraging Big Data for Public Purposes in the Global South: LIRNEasia's Experiences
8: Paula Hidalgo-Sanchis: Advancing Human Development with Artificial Intelligence: Experimental Work from Uganda
9: Vukosi Marivate and Nyalleng Moorosi: Extracting Insights in and around Government: Experiences in South Africa
10: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Digital Data Handling: A Tutorial Approach
11: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Sources of Big Data in Global Development
12: Eduardo Lopez and Sanna Ojanperae: Methods for the Analysis of Big Data in Development
13: Richard Heeks: Data Justice for International Development: A Structural Model and Manifesto
14: Linnet Taylor: The Ethics of Big Data as a Public Good: Which Public? Whose Good?