1. Using Big and Open Data to Benefit Humanity
Sabina Leonelli
Exeter Centre for the Study of Life Sciences (Egenis)
& Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology
University of Exeter
@sabinaleonelli

2. Utopia: Big and Open Data at the Service of Global Society
New technologies and institutions for producing, storing and disseminating lots of data, fast, about anything and everything
New forms of data mining, analysis and re-use beyond context of data generation
Mediated through Open Science: ongoing transformation of
Publication and public engagement
Research assessment
What counts as research (to include outreach and data stewardship)

3. Dystopia: Unreliable Science, Widening Divides
Lack of Sustainability:
Open science is not quick nor cheap
Digital data infrastructures require maintenance and updating
Who pays, how and for how long?
Quality Concerns:
Anything online goes?
Risk of entrenched bias in automated analysis
Lack of accountability in global data trade and big data analytics
Data recycling and conservatism in research
Increasing Digital Divides:
Databases display “tractable” data by rich, English-speaking groups
Deepening disadvantage to low-resourced research environments
Gender and class bias in data sources, e.g. social media
Little monitoring of acceptable data use (individual/group rights)

4. Priorities for Data Governance
Support fairness in data handling:
Identify exclusions and inequalities
Invest in adequate data expertise
Not all data should be open
Support mechanisms to promote quality and trustworthiness of data sources and analytic tools
Invest in sustainable data infrastructures: interoperable, long-term, international, publicly accountable
Encourage creative solutions to global challenges in dialogue with relevant publics
Foster critical scrutiny of data use

5. Research funded by European Research Council grant n° , ESRC, MRC & NERC MEDMI Grant, Leverhulme Trust Grant “Beyond the Digital Divide”, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant “Organisms and Us”
Leonelli, S. (2017) Incentives and Rewards for Open Science Activities. Report for the Mutual Learning Exercise on Open Science of the European Commission.
Leonelli, S. (2017) Biomedical Knowledge Production in the Age of Big Data. Report for the Swiss Science and Innovation Council.
Leonelli, S., Arnauld, E., Davey, R., Parry, G. and Bastow, R. (2017) Data Management and Best Practice in Plant Science. Nature Plants
Leonelli, S. (2017) Global Data Quality Assessment and the Situated Nature of “Best” Research Practices in Biology. Data Science Journal Bezuidenhout L, Leonelli S, Kelly A, Rappert B (2017) Beyond the Digital Divide: Towards a Situated Approach to Open Data. Science & Public Policy
Leonelli, S. (2016) Locating Ethics in Data Science: Responsibility and Accountability in Global and Distributed Knowledge Production. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Part A.
Levin, N and Leonelli, S (2016) How Does One “Open” Science? Questions of Value in Biological Research. Science, Technology and Human Values.