I am incredibly relieved to see mainstream coverage of MiDAS and other automation failures both banal and shocking that occur under the guise of procurement and modernization while fundamentally altering the fabric of the social safety net absent public review. h/t @PopTechWorks
The civil and human rights implications of such systems are extensive. In other countries, where data integration is happening more readily at the national level, there are robust debates about the digital welfare state. openglobalrights.org/digital-welfar…
We have a moment here to engage critically with the problem framing that leads to automated systems. While civil servants have good intentions, the structural logic that leads to deploying descriptive data for prediction and automation is about austerity, not public interest.
There is urgency to build infrastructure to enable review, adjudication, and even basic engagement with these systems, but as soon as data has been integrated across agencies it becomes railroad tracks that will steamroll entire communities even as the railroad is celebrated.
When I started looking @ this space about three years ago, the first gap to jump out was the wall of jargon, technosolutionism, and procurement bureaucracy that prevented even conversation between public sector agencies and impacted communities about automated systems.
When it rains it pours I guess because today also marks the publication of a toolkit I’ve been incredibly lucky to contribute to alongside @Combsthepoet and others who are doing the real work in this space. The guidance is aimed @ data curious institutions and users of admin data
A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration speaks to another fundamental gap in the public sector data integration space: recognition of overlapping legacies of structural oppression that threaten to undermine all uses of data. …j2dn45s1y90db-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/upl…
Through the amazing facilitation of @AISP_Penn, those of us typically more keen to obfuscate, resist and refuse automated systems came together with some data folks from localities that are laying the rails in search of the good things the railroad might bring to their community.
Proud to be part of timely and pragmatic work that centers anti-racism. This toolkit tries to meet people where they are in their belief that data can be part of building a better world & in wanting to maintain social license to operate in US communities.
When we work together across sectors, we can move past the tech jargon to agree that surveillance is not safety and we want to prioritize equity over “efficiency.” We need integrated people ecosystems to match the integrated data being fed to automated systems.
This feels like a team moment so shoutout to @seanmmcdonald @biancawylie @nasma_ahmed @JasmineMcNealy (toolkit contributor!) &so many others doing the work around #datagovernance and community engagement in technocratic modernization projects & ofc luminaries @ruha9 @PopTechWorks
And a massive thank you to @hawnnelson @adelia_jenkins at AISP for including me in this important work!!
