Data for Children Collaborative instrumental in the Scottish Government publication of the Expert Group Report: Building Trust in the Digital Era
Data for Children Collaborative instrumental in the Scottish Government publication of the Expert Group Report: Building Trust in the Digital Era: Achieving Scotland’s Aspirations as an Ethical Digital Nation Digital Ethics
In efforts to set out a roadmap for a fairer digital Scotland, Scottish Government publishes ‘Building Trust in the Digital Era: Achieving Scotland’s Aspirations as an Ethical Digital Nation Digital Ethics Expert Group Report’. The key narrative of this publication is building trust with the people of Scotland through engaging them in digital decisions that affect their lives.
The report, which draws on a diverse range of evidence and expert opinion, sets out recommendations for encouraging ethical digital practice across government, businesses and civil society, including aspects of safety, privacy, sustainability and oversight.
Its development illustrates how Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service, is helping to connect academics with the public sector for social good.
An expert group of academics from Scottish, British and European universities reviewed evidence from around the world and undertook a number of ‘deep-dives’ into sectors where digital is presenting ethical dilemmas, such as education and the gaming industry. In parallel, the charities Carnegie UK and Involve convened a public panel to explore key issues to feed into the report.
The Data for Children Collaborative’s role as editors of the report was instrumental to fusing expert perspectives and integrating key messaging in an accessible and engaging way. The Collaborative’s core values of transparency and trust guided this process. This critical role in supporting the creation of the report through building the content from the expert group, case studies and the public panel, demonstrates the Data for Children Collaborative’s commitment to being advocates for responsible data and digital innovation. This activity shows that the Collaborative’s ethical activism stretches beyond the domain of improving outcomes for children and can be applied to other ‘data for good’ areas and initiatives.
The key recommendations from the report include:
Putting in place a digital ombudsman, or National Digital Guardian, to ensure oversight and public awareness.
Citizen-led participation, to involve users meaningfully in digital innovation processes.
An effective legal and regulatory framework to ensure privacy, safety and accountability.
Honest conversations about the trade-offs between the benefits of digital innovation and the carbon footprint of data – ensuring the journey to net zero is respected.
Support digital inclusion by addressing barriers to participation.
Ensuring reliable, representative data and technologies underpinning algorithmic decision making.
As the digital world expands, the need and importance of setting out the guidance helping to navigate it grows.
Dr Claudia Pagliari, who leads the Global eHealth Group at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, chaired the expert group. Dr Pagliari said:
: “Government, industry and academia in Scotland have ambitious plans for digital and data-driven innovation, involving technologies like Artificial Intelligence, with far-reaching consequences.
“Shopping, personal finance, networking and even voting are being reshaped by the internet and social media, while our engagement with public services is increasingly taking place on digital platforms. All of these developments have benefits - for our economy, science, education, access to services, entertainment, and even our social lives - but they also come with potential downsides.
“Examples include new risks associated with personal privacy and choice, exposure to harmful content or false advertising, attitude manipulation by vested interests, access inequalities, personal online abuse and fraud, biased algorithms, and environmental damage from energy consumption, rare earth mining or digital garbage.
“The Scottish Government has shown foresight and leadership in commissioning this report, to try and make sense of these dilemmas and inform policy, regulation, education, spending and incentives. We recognise that getting the balance is not an easy task. Nonetheless, we look forward to seeing the implementation of the report’s recommendations in the coming weeks and months.”
Enterprise Minister Ivan Mckee welcomed the report, saying: “I would like to thank the Expert Group and wider contributors for their dedication and hard work to produce this detailed report, highlighting the importance of building and maintaining trust as an essential ingredient for a successful digital society.
“Our aim in the Digital Strategy for Scotland is to set out a vision of an ethical digital nation based on the recommendations of the Expert Group and subsequent discussions with the public, stakeholders and civic society.”
Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh and a member of the expert group, concluded:
“Digital innovation, through harnessing data and artificial intelligence, has huge potential to help improve people’s lives and secure the future of our planet. However, given the speed of progress, it is vital that we take time to put in place the governance and checks that will ensure data serves people and planet before profit.”
You can read the full report on the Scottish Government website.