Data Democratisation

I was fortunate to have an audience with His Majesty the King after I completed the Young Professional Leadership Program (YPLP-6) from the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS), Phuentsholing, Bhutan in 2018.

RIGSS is a premiere institute founded by His Majesty the King in 2013 to promote excellence in leadership, governance, and strategic studies. His Majesty the King places a paramount significance by granting an audience to all the cohorts at the end of their graduation. 

One of the key concerns articulated during His Majesty’s address was regarding Data Democratisation – making information accessible for all the people. I draw my perspectives in praise of His Majesty’s wisdom that offers profound relevance about data democratisation in operationalising our system – precisely education. 

As a former classroom teacher, I understand the importance of fully installed and operational data democratisation in our education system. Annually or bi-annually or sometimes even more frequently than that, teachers submit student-related information to the School Management, who then forward it to the District Education Office and subsequently to the head office in the Ministry of Education. Teachers are asked to submit the same data to the same office several times, yet it is not accessible when needed for a variety of reasons.

 

What is Data Democratisation?   

Data democratisation is the process by which an organisation makes data accessible to all people (e.g., employees, stakeholders). Briefly, data is any piece of information that can include a range of simple (e.g., working email address; employee details; precise location of office) to complex (e.g., records of the training attended by the all the employees of the organisation) materials that we can gather regarding the institutions, organisations, or associations. Since data is ubiquitous, at its core, data democratisation is all about making “access to data”. 

Giving access to data is equivalent to granting privilege for everyone the possibility to obtain the information. In this sense, data democratisation embodies the core of democracy by facilitating access to information. Data democratisation in short can be seen as a type of data democracy.

Courtesy: Prime Minister's Office - PMO, Bhutan

Why Data Democratisation?   

With changing times and emergent technologies, we must evolve how we process things. There is virtually no time for anyone to go through a tedious process to collect small pieces of information that may be otherwise secured by sitting in a given area. For example, it is inconvenient for the citizens of Eastern Bhutan to travel to Thimphu, the capital city, to acquire specific data and process everything that may be obtained from their own stations. Data democratisation is thus an efficient means of saving money and time for those in need by making the work more convenient and quicker to execute – simply by giving access to the data. 

When everyone has access to data, no gatekeepers who otherwise create barriers at the data’s access point are required. For example, when we visit the district education office, Administrative Assistants who work under education officials do not have the autonomy to offer access to some of our personal records since the password, key, or internal rules do not allow it. Data democratisation has the potential to break that impasse by allowing anybody, at any time, to access data with no restrictions. Empowering data to employees boosts the sense of engagement and ownership of taking their roles more accountable. 

Data access is crucial for facilitating digital transformation and increasing efficiency. When data is open and accessible, it can improve transparency. Transparency promotes trust and confidence. These days, with mobile devices in everyone’s hands, data democratisation will encourage society to become more data-informed and make data-driven decisions.

 

But, What About Sensitive Data?  

Although data democratisation is inherently good, it does present several issues regarding data ethics, data breaches, and accountability. Some data may contain legal implications that make it unlawful to be open and transparent. In such a situation, we must learn how to share data ethically. There must be a system of checks and balances to make the data accessible - both to the provider and the recipient. Otherwise, data democratisation would frequently be tarnished by limitations such as potential data misuse or data security concerns (e.g., private or classified documents).

To begin with, it is not even reasonable to make sensitive material (e.g., data related to legal operations or that may entail risks to national sovereignty) publicly available and online. However, it would be helpful to provide a remark or procedures for obtaining those data or information. Another approach is to provide some working references/links to the relevant offices' websites or contact information. People in desperate need can pick that option and receive the data they require.

 

How to Improve Data Democratisation?  

Any organization’s growth trajectory has a substantial impact on the rate at which data democratisation unfolds. I keep emphasising that let alone data democratisation, everything is achievable for a tiny nation like ours, with fewer people and manageable data.

We must overhaul the current dynamics of running offices and organisations that are mostly siloed and fragmented.  Practically STOP operating in silos in the first place. Reduce the cumbersome bureaucratic process we have to undergo in order to avail any public service. When it comes to working, most institutions have their own territories. Some offices are so compartmentalised that bosses cannot be reached to obtain data, even if the supervisor/head shares the same building. Our offices that deal with similar data need to collaborate and undertake some initiatives to increase data availability. For example, the police traffic division can work with the RSTA to provide access to driving information at any time, unless there are certain legal constraints.

We boast about going electronic and digital to deliver public services, but we do not have a systematic process or a credible source to access the data. In the case of education, for example, let alone our schools, some important offices under the Ministry’s head office do not have functional and up-to-date websites that offer access to critical data. Our addresses are often out of date, residences are not visibly numbered, and roads connecting to some offices are not adequately signposted. All these parameters contribute to data democratisation.

We hear about lavishly financed conferences/seminars/meetings being held in some of the country's most expensive resorts to address some of the nation's pressing issues. However, the information that is relevant to some of these meetings appears undocumented and inaccessible. Most of the information produced is in the form of hard copies stored in the managers’ offices for auditing or dust collection. We rarely consider the long-term usage and references of data.

This dilemma will be quite familiar if we are academic scholars. Other than certain social media posts in which people mention the title of the workshop/course/training and upload images of themselves eating, drinking, or trekking, it is unusually difficult to research relevant literature in our context that is formally documented and archived. Consequently, from an academic standpoint, I argue that the lake of our literature is ridiculously insignificant and awfully dehydrated.