This chapter contributes to the Critical Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) research in three ways. First, from within the field of critical data studies, the chapter reflects on the findings from four studies conducted at the Data Lab at Tallinn University of Technology. These studies explored various forms of social datafication, bringing to light the necessity to rethink data governance beyond its current normative standpoint towards the idea of data governance as a practice requiring ongoing negotiation among data experts, data subjects, and their context. Second, the chapter problematises such a conclusion, digging deeper into its ethical and epistemological foundations. This highlights the need for a relativisation of the kind of quantitative knowledge-as-fact imposed by the “datum” in favour of the recognition and cohabitation of other qualitative epistemologies. Third, the chapter takes up the challenge to operationalise this last insight by describing a course in data ethics for the city whose conceptual pillars were a sociotechnical understanding of data-driven technologies and a non-axiomatic, non-normative understanding of ethics.

In various official documents, the European Union has declared its goal to pursue a “people-centric” digital transformation. While fuzzy in its formulation, this generally entails the defense of individual rights alongside principles such as economic competitiveness, social inclusiveness, digital sovereignty, and environmental sustainability. Hence—we claim—“people-centric” embeds and demands a “collectual” (collective + individual) equilibrium between individual and collective rights and principles. Concretely, we draw on literature to operationalize such an equilibrium in terms of socio-economic sustainability, inclusiveness, and resilience (SIR). From here, we show that the EU’s current human rights-based approach (HRBA) and its emerging digital single market (DSM) maintain an individualistic focus and economic rationale which fail to be collectual and SIR. We identify data commons as a promising collectual and SIR regime for governing the digital transformation. By addressing current barriers and limitations of data common initiatives, we conceptualize the Data Republic as a theoretical setup that can systemically tackle these limitations and barriers to provide a new way for pursuing a “people-centric” digital transformation in the EU.

In various official documents, the European Union has declared its goal to pursue a citizen-centric governance of digital transformation. Through a critical review of several of these documents, here we show how “citizen-centric” is more a glamouring than a driving concept. De facto, the EU is enabling a federated data system that is corporate-driven, economic-oriented, and GDPR-compliant; in other words, a Digital Single Market (DSM). This leaves out societal and collective-level dimensions of digital transformation—such as social inclusion, digital sovereignty, and environmental sustainability—which are acknowledged, but not operationalized, by the EU as pillars of a citizen-centric governance. Hence, the door is open to a complementary approach to the governance of digital transformation. We argue that, while a federated data model can constitute the tech-legal backbone of the emerging DSM, a commoning of data, as an ecosystemic approach that maintains a societal and collective outlook by default, can represent a complement to enact a truly citizen-centric governance.

Starting from the recognition of the limits of today's common essentialist and axiological understandings of data and ethics, in this article we make the case for an ecosystemic understanding of data ethics (for the city) that accounts for the inherent value-laden entanglements and unintended (both positive and negative) consequences of the development, implementation, and use of data-driven technologies in real-life contexts. To operationalize our view, we conceived and taught a master course titled ‘Ethics for the data-driven city’ delivered within the Department of Urbanism at the Delft University of Technology. By endorsing a definition of data as a sociotechnical process, of ethics as a collective practice, and of the city as a complex system, the course enacts a transdisciplinary approach and problem-opening method that compel students to recognize and tackle the unavoidable multifacetedness of all ethical stances, as well as the intrinsic open-endedness of all tech solutions, thus seeking a fair balance for the whole data-driven urban environment. The article discusses the results of the teaching experience, which took the form of a research-and-design workshop, alongside the students’ feedback and further pedagogical developments.

While the concept of digital twin has already consolidated in industry, its spinoff in the urban environment—in the form of a City Digital Twin (CDT)—is more recent. A CDT is a dynamic digital model of the physical city whereby the physical and the digital are integrated in both directions, thus mutually affecting each other in real time. Replicating the path of smart cities, literature remarks that agendas and discourses around CDTs remain (1) tech-centered, that is, focused on overcoming technical limitations and lacking a proper sociotechnical contextualization of digital twin technologies; (2) practice-first, entailing hands-on applications without a long-term strategic governance for the management of these same technologies. Building on that, the goal of this article is to move beyond high-level conceptualizations of CDT to (a) get a cognizant understanding of what a CDT can do, how, and for whom; (b) map the current state of development and implementation of CDTs in Europe. This will be done by looking at three case studies—Dublin, Helsinki, and Rotterdam—often considered as successful examples of CDTs in Europe. Through exiting literature and official documents, as well as by relying on primary interviews with tech experts and local officials, the article explores the maturity of these CDTs, along the Gartner's hype-mainstream curve of technological innovations. Findings show that, while all three municipalities have long-term plans to deliver an integrated, cyber-physical real-time modeling of the city, currently their CDTs are still at an early stage of development. The focus remains on technical barriers—e.g., integration of different data sources—overlooking the societal dimension, such as the systematic involvement of citizens. As for the governance, all cases embrace a multistakeholder approach; yet CDTs are still not used for policymaking and it remains to see how the power across stakeholders will be distributed in terms of access to, control of, and decisions about CDTs.

To harness the promises of digital transformation, different players take different paths. Departing from corporate-driven (e.g., the United States) and state-led (e.g., China) approaches, in various documents, the European Union states its goal to establish a citizen-centric data ecosystem. However, it remains contentious the extent to which the envisioned digital single market can enable the creation of public value and empower citizens. As an alternative, in this article, we argue in favor of a fair data ecosystem, defined as an approach capable of representing and keep in balance the data interests of all actors, while maintain a collective outlook. We build such ecosystem around data commons—as a third path to market and state approaches to the managing of resources—coupled with open data (OD) frameworks and spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). Indeed, based on literature, we claim that these three regimes complement each other, with OD and SDIs supplying infrastructures and institutionalization to data commons’ limited replicability and scalability. This creates the preconditions for designing the main roles, rules, and mechanisms of a data republic, as a possible enactment of a fair data ecosystem. While outlining here its main traits, the testing of the data republic model is open for further research.

This article focuses on the launch by the Chinese company Huawei of ICT academies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and Kenya especially. Existing literature shows contrasting findings concerning the impact of such formation and recruitment centres. Through high-level thematic and sentiment analyses, this article examines various Huawei accounts on social networking sites (SNSs) – that is, Facebook and Twitter – in order to better assess: (1) the kind of online corporate communication unfolded by the company with particular regard to these centres; and (2) how the advertising of such centres is perceived by users. The results suggest that Huawei’s online corporate requires better fine-tuning with local SNSs’ users.

To achieve sustainable development goals, georeferenced data and geographic information systems play a crucial role. Yet, the way in which these data and systems are summoned upon rests on positivist assumptions which overlook both epistemological and ethical concerns. This is epitomized by the integrated geospatial information framework (IGIF) of the United Nations, which, from the perspective of sustainable development, aims to provide guidance for the management of geoinformation and related tools, considering these as mirrors of the physical world. In this respect, the article has three main goals. First, it delivers an epistemological and ethical critique of the IGIF, by highlighting its internal tensions. Second, it suggests how the IGIF and similar geoinformation initiatives can benefit from an ethical reflection that allows to conduct georeferenced practices in a fair(er) way. Third, it designs an ethics assessment list for self-evaluating the ethical robustness of geoinformation initiatives as ecosystems.

This study strives to contribute to the discussions on the increasing use of data in organisational settings within specific contexts like governance and control of spatial mobilities. Whereas legal, regulatory, and technical aspects are widely studied, there is less knowledge about public discourses on data, especially the data professionals' interpretations (re)constructing these understandings. This study conducted Q-methodological interviews among data professionals employed in the mobility domain in Estonia—a leading digital society—who work in public, private, and third-sector organisations. The findings show the emergence of four discourses on data: (I) data-based liberal internationalism and equal access; (II) integrative data activities through cooperation and disciplinary continuity; (III) (big)data self-reflections and organisational data culture; and (IV) data discrimination aware data practices and privacy protection. Thus, governance through data does not constitute a single imaginary future but creates various scenarios across the types of both data and mobility and the sector. We propose that governance through data emerges in these discourses not only as ‘enculturation’, where data are seen as an ultimate medium of knowledge, but as ‘acculturation’—critically self-reflexive learning through data as a form of change in organisations and among data professionals.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the epistemological tensions embedded within big data and data-driven technologies to advance a socio-political reconsideration of the public dimension in the assessment of their implementation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper builds upon (and revisits) the European Union’s (EU) normative understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies, blending reflections rooted in philosophy of technology with issues of democratic participation in tech-related matters. Findings: This paper proposes the conceptual design of sectorial and/or local-level e-participation platforms to ignite an ongoing discussion – involving experts, private actors, as well as cognizant citizens – over the implementation of data-driven technologies, to avoid siloed, tech-solutionist decisions. Originality/value: This paper inscribes the EU’s normative approach to AI and data-driven technologies, as well as critical work on the governance of these technologies, into a broader political dimension, suggesting a way to democratically and epistocratically opening up the decisional processes over the development and implementation of these technologies and turn such processes into a systemic civic involvement.

The concept of “digital sovereignty” has gained momentum due to the emergence of a multipolar geopolitical scenario based upon different visions of today’s digital society. In this scenario, the United States, China, and the European Union are major players, each pursuing their understanding of digital sovereignty and their approach to digital transformation. The EU conceives of digital sovereignty as technological autonomy from other competitors, and to achieve this it has carved for itself the role of international regulator. De facto, however, the EU enacts an individual-centric and economic-driven digital strategy that hinders the possibility of a fully-fledged European digital sovereignty. Notably, the concept fails to embed the collective-level dimension proper to sovereignty as such. To tackle this, the paper explores data commoning as the basis for shaping a well-formed European polity, key to its digital sovereignty.

We are in need of critical discussions exploring the tensions between travel writing as a textual genre and the medium that carries it. Indeed, we are witnessing a proliferation of mediations and mediatisations of travel writing across platforms and media, which further enriches and diversifies the poetics of the genre, urging to link it to the politics that lie behind the textualisation of travelling and writing as practices. This chapter presents three case studies in which the dynamics of mediati(sati)on play a crucial role: the travel book Crónica de viaje, by Jorge Carrión, which questions the generic features of travel writing by foregrounding the role of the Web as a meta-medium; two Instagram travel influencers and their different visualisations of what it means to be ‘on the road’; and 1 the Road, the first travelogue written by an Artificial Neural Network. Through these examples it is possible to draw broader reflections on the consubstantiality of genre and medium – poetics and politics – and point to possible future lines of research.

The 2008 economic crisis has opened the door to new strategies for managing urban resources. In fact, the interest in urban commons (UC) has (re)surfaced both within and outside academia. While literature accounting for existing experiences is growing; UC as a practice begs for further systematization concerning the needed negotiation between institutional recognition and informal self-organization. This is particularly true for temporary urbanism, a strategy for the social repurposing of temporarily unused buildings, whose precarious nature has been deemed to represent just a fixing to the neoliberal logic. In this regard, a non-institutional perspective can help shed light on citymaking as a composite practice in which both institutional and non-institutional actors not only coexist but presuppose each other. In this paper, we explore this issue by focusing on two non-profit organizations working in the Rotterdam and Brussels's housing market: Stad in de Maak and Communa. Through in-depth interviews with the founders and core members of these organizations, as well as with participants to their projects, we show how SidM and Communa operate as intermediaries in the housing sector, filling the gaps left by the market and public actors. Most importantly, our research questions the extent to which the enacting of commoning practices by these organizations can become a pillar of citymaking, configuring an iterative disclosure and (collective) reclosure of urban resources. Evidence shows that, while enacting temporary urbanism differently, both organizations strive for social cooperative ownership of spaces for consolidating their presence in the cities.

This paper takes the lead from the acknowledged ongoing mismatch between open data provision and actual open data demand by users, both public and private. To tackle such mismatch, the paper suggests remodulating data openness through a commons approach, which seeks to account for all data actors’ needs, while maintaining their interests in balance. In other words, data commons enacts an ecosystemic approach by default to data provision and demand, whereby data actors and their relations are mutually co-dependent. Yet, the application of the concept of the commons to data is not straightforward. This is due to data’s hybrid nature, which requires reconsidering the normative understanding of data as a resource, if we really want to develop a governance model that is beneficial to all actors and the whole data ecosystem. Building on recent literature in this direction, the paper will briefly outline the pillars of a commons-based data ecosystem.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become a crucial sector of China–Africa relations. As scholars have noted, Africa’s 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) risks transforming into a new ‘scramble’ with foreign actors harnessing Africa’s data. The present article explores this issue at a discursive level, i.e. delving into policies, bilateral agreements, and laws. The focus is specifically on Kenya in that it is one of the most developed ICT markets in Africa and it is here that the Chinese tech giant Huawei began its investments in 1998. Via a document review, the article provides a preliminary discursive assessment of the extent to which Kenyan actors are effectively (dis)empowered with regard to their own 4IR. The analysis shows that both pan-African and bilateral agreements remain at a high level of abstraction: while this is the typical Chinese way of framing discourses on technological innovation, it also leaves room for political manoeuvring and potential forms of data colonialism.

This study explores relocated algorithmic governance through a qualitative study of the Ubenwa health app. The Ubenwa, which was developed in Canada based on a dataset of babies from Mexico, is currently being implemented in Nigeria to detect birth asphyxia. The app serves as an ideal case for examining the socio-cultural negotiations involved in re-contextualising algorithmic technology. We conducted in-depth interviews with parents, medical practitioners and data experts in Nigeria; the interviews reveal individuals’ perceptions about algorithmic governance and self-determination. In particular, our study presents people’s insights about (1) relocated algorithms as socially dynamic ‘contextual settings’, (2) the (non)negotiable spaces that these algorithmic solutions potentially create and (3) the general implications of re-contextualising algorithmic governance. This article illustrates that relocated algorithmic solutions are perceived as ‘cosmopolitan data localisms’ that extend the spatial scales and multiply localities rather than as ‘data glocalisation’ or the indigenisation of globally distributed technology.

Purpose: This study advances a reconceptualization of data and information which overcomes normative understandings often contained in data policies at national and international levels. This study aims to propose a conceptual framework that moves beyond subject- and collective-centric normative understandings. Design/methodology/approach: To do so, this study discusses the European Union (EU) and China’s approaches to data-driven technologies highlighting their similarities and differences when it comes to the vision underpinning how tech innovation is shaped. Findings: Regardless of the different attention to the subject (the EU) and the collective (China), the normative understandings of technology by both actors remain trapped into a positivist approach that overlooks all that is not and cannot be turned into data, thus hindering the elaboration of a more holistic ecological thinking merging humans and technologies. Originality/value: Revising the philosophical and political debate on data and data-driven technologies, a third way is elaborated, i.e. federated data as commons. This third way puts the subject as part by default of a collective at the centre of discussion. This framing can serve as the basis for elaborating sociotechnical alternatives when it comes to define and regulate the mash-up of humans and technology.

We are in need of critical discussions exploring the tensions between travel writing as a textual genre and the medium that carries it. Indeed, we are witnessing a proliferation of mediations and mediatisations of travel writing across platforms and media, which further enriches and diversifies the poetics of the genre, urging to link it to the politics that lie behind the textualisation of travelling and writing as practices. This chapter presents three case studies in which the dynamics of mediati(sati)on play a crucial role: The travel book Crónica de viaje, by Jorge Carrión, which questions the generic features of travel writing by foregrounding the role of the Web as a meta-medium; two Instagram travel influencers and their different visualisations of what it means to be ‘on the road’; and 1 the Road, the first travelogue written by an Artificial Neural Network. Through these examples it is possible to draw broader reflections on the consubstantiality of genre and medium -poetics and politics -and point to possible future lines of research.

As we advance technologically, spatial data gains importance with its ability to be used in various fields. Traditionally, most spatial data are collected by government organisations. To facilitate sharing and reuse of spatial data, Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) have been developed in the last decades. More recently with the growing maturity of open data, the notion emerged that not only government organisations should be involved in SDIs but also companies and citizens should be included to upload and share their data in an Open SDI. One of the Open SDI challenges is how to engage and continuously motivate non-governmental parties to participate as an open data community. This research used OpenStreetMap (OSM) as a case study to explore the factors that foster user participation in an Open SDI community, as we consider OSM to be a non-governmental Open SDI ecosystem. Using a qualitative and a quantitative approach, we found that participants that were mostly heavy contributors are highly motivated to participate mostly because they believe in the main goal of OSM, they value the community and the development of the OSM platform and trust the system and its users. Moreover, they also participate for fun, instrumentality, altruism, meeting own needs, and for learning. Although OSM participants perceive OSM as an Open Data Ecosystem, there are dividing opinions of the perception of Open Spatial Data Infrastructures. The participants’ concerns and recommendations for future development of OSM can be used by government organisations in the development of Open SDIs.