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Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates global development joining in the data revolution while grappling with deficiencies in computational skills and facilities. It traces how development actors seize the opportunities and navigate challenges related to large-scale data in the Global North and the Global South.

Paper long abstract:

Data are now almost ubiquitous. Sensors and software are digitizing and storing all manner of social, economic, political, and environmental patterns and processes. As the size of these datasets has increased exponentially, many have begun to focus on how large-scale data harvested from private and online sources can complement public data and allow potentially unprecedented insights into our world. As this wealth of data can be mapped, measured, and analyzed, many have argued that large-scale data possesses the potential to produce fundamentally new ways of approaching development.

Yet relatively little is known about how best to harness such 'big data' in ways that could effectively inform development processes, particularly for the most disadvantaged and excluded. The challenge is compounded in contexts of low computational capacities and resources, as analysis of large-scale datasets requires specialized skills and facilities. Moreover, it remains unclear whether, and how, citizens are able to seize these opportunities, individually and collectively.

Despite the opportunities that big data analysis poses for human development, these approaches remain underutilized in both academic and practitioner circles. This paper addresses the paradox of development data: ever increasing amounts of available relevant data attracts the interest of development actors, yet deficiencies in computational skills and facilities limit its access, use, and grasp of the associated risks and limitations. Drawing from diverse case studies from around the world, it theorizes potential ways forward. This paper presents an opening chapter of a book project that focuses on this topic and is forthcoming later this year.