Round up of some current energy sector data infrastructure projects

Now that I work in the energy sector I'm trying to pay closer attention to how the data infrastructure in that area is evolving. Here's a round up of some current and recent projects that I've been keeping an eye on. Along with some thoughts on their scope, overlaps and potential outcomes. Ofgem review of … Continue reading Round up of some current energy sector data infrastructure projects →

It’s just a spreadsheet, but it’s still data infrastructure

I've found my new favourite example of a well documented, tiny slice of data infrastructure. I'm going to hazard a guess that it's probably the simplest dataset that is designated as national statistics. If you can think of one simpler, then let me know. It's the weekly road fuel prices data on gov.uk. This data … Continue reading It’s just a spreadsheet, but it’s still data infrastructure →

Notice of plans to erect…another big database

This privacy notice went past in my twitter stream earlier. It announces that the UK government is planning to create a new database that will some quite detailed data about every electricity meter in the UK. In particular it'll combine together information about the meter, the energy consumption and billing details associated with that energy … Continue reading Notice of plans to erect…another big database →

Wonky fruit and data standards

There was an article in the Guardian this week about supermarkets selling "wonky" fruit during the current drought. It got me thinking about how our perceptions of what is good, normal or acceptable get shaped by decisions made by others. This lead me down a bit of a rabbit-hole reading about cosmetic standards for fruit … Continue reading Wonky fruit and data standards →

The data ecosystem for non-domestic energy consumption data in the UK

Since joining Energy Sparks I've started investing time in trying to understanding the UK energy system and, in particular, the parts of its data infrastructure and broader ecosystem that we work with. It's a big, complex system so lots to wrap my head around. I looked at one part of that data ecosystem in a … Continue reading The data ecosystem for non-domestic energy consumption data in the UK →

Behavioural use licensing won’t fix the negative impacts of AI

I recently read a paper called "Behavioral Use Licensing for Responsible AI" in which the authors make a case that licences can be used to create a legally enforceable way to limit the ways in which AI can be used, and in particular in-line with response AI guidelines. Here's the abstract: With the growing reliance … Continue reading Behavioural use licensing won’t fix the negative impacts of AI →

A commons needs more than open licensing

When I look across the various "open" communities in which I either participate in or monitor, there's a lot of recurring issues. For example, sustainability is a common issue across open data, open source and open science. How do we ensure sustainable access to data? How do we make individual open source projects sustainable when … Continue reading A commons needs more than open licensing →

Role playing data governance

There's a lot of work happening around data governance that involves piloting and testing new approaches. A few years ago the ODI piloted some data trusts. The Data Trust Initiative is running three pilots. The ODI has also been running a peer learning network as part of its data institutions programme to support a variety … Continue reading Role playing data governance →

What are Data Unions?

I've been doing some research around different types of data intermediary recently and thought I'd share some things I've learned about "Data Unions". Like a lot of the terms being applied to new approaches to data governance, there's no clear definition of what constitutes a data union. A vision of collective action For example, this … Continue reading What are Data Unions? →

We need the right data institutions

Popular Science have recently published three pieces of speculative fiction exploring the question of "will 'we the people' benefit from our data?". They're called "Shared data", "The Memory of Tomatoes" and "Home@Heart". Each of the pieces of fiction is followed up a response from a policy expert. I read the first of these this morning. … Continue reading We need the right data institutions →