Why your view of the world is riddled with holes

Some 1.6 million refugees surged into Europe in 2015 alone. Over 8.2 million people are hungry and at risk of starvation in Ethiopia, suffering from extreme climate-change induced food insecurity. In a world where 17% of adults are illiterate, and 4.4 billion people are offline, our pictures of reality are riddled with holes.

Uprisings and attacks that seem to come from nowhere rarely erupt from out of the blue. Are these shocks unprecedented surprises, impossible to predict in a fast-changing and tumultuous world?

Data invisibles

Many of the conversations on data happen in the developed world of Europe, North America, Oceania and parts of Asia. They center on data’s astonishing new ubiquity, and how to harness it to improve and safeguard human welfare, economies, and security.

However, the discussions overlook the massive big data black holes blanketing highly vulnerable populations. These individuals, “data invisibles”, are not counted or tracked within the formal or digital economy and frequently elude accurate census collection. They are disproportionately migrants, women, children, rural and slum dwellers frequently marginalized within their own societies. Data invisibles are at greatest risk for shocks and exploitation. India for instance has tens of millions of undocumented immigrants, with 10 million from Bangladesh alone.

Why are "data invisibles" important?

Anticipating and responding to a crisis, as well as maintaining stability, requires reliable, ongoing information sources from marginalized groups.

Detecting disruptive patterns at the fringes has great significance in containing risks and avoiding economic, social, political and environmental tragedies.

Information on how people are feeling, such as motivations, unrest, and fears, offer early indicators of stresses and tectonic shifts. Identifying step-wise deterioration in climate, security, and social stability offers a window to act, direct resources, and mitigate dangers before they erupt. Epidemics in populations, livestock, and cash crops foretell social, environmental, and economic insecurity that could be contained if identified and acted upon sooner.

What could we learn from better data?

With better data, earlier signaling and deeper community engagement, more effective interventions and safeguards could occur at the local community level. With appropriate governance and protections in place, insights from Data Invisibles could be used to address situations before they deteriorate and cascade on a wider basis. Additionally they could be used to strengthen decision-making and drive more accurate planning for the future.

So where do we go from here? No single entity or approach is comprehensive enough to address the challenges and harness the opportunities alone.

To solve this problem on a large scale requires new collaborations across disciplines and sectors. There are significant roles for governments, international organizations, corporations, academia and technologists. Bridging the Digital Divide is one core element of a solution, but as a standalone is incomplete. There is also a role for field-based, people-centered listening and engagement within community contexts.

At a minimum, we must stop ignoring what we cannot see today. Seeking engagement and learning about Data Invisible populations is fundamentally important. However, the status quo of not engaging meaningfully is no longer viable. It is time to step up to the challenge of listening and uncovering, in order to move beyond defensive actions of pure damage control.