This was the slide deck for Mark Charmer's 5 minute lightning talk at the Hub Westminster, as part of Big Data Week. Tuesday 23 April 2013.

2. We build web and mobile tools,
which we run as a service, to help fix poverty.

5. The Akvo team

6. Headquartered in the Netherlands

10. Where did the money go?

11. Knowledge is locked away

12. Reporting is ineffective

13. Funding is not transparent

14. Field surveys done by hand

15. 38Akvo people

17. Akvo. Shared systems

20. 1. POWER AND EQUALITY. These tools are seductive to governments and
bureaucrats as tools of control. But how do these systems ultimately
empower people and their communities to have a bigger say?
2. PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? Beware big IT consultancies carving up the “Smart
Cities” market between them, targeting government people who aren’t sure
what they’re buying. Big data projects should not create the equivalent of
public toll roads.
3. THE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK FACTOR. Beware public data projects that are
led by firms underpinned by advertising-based business models. Ask
yourself, ultimately, where is the money coming from here? How will that
corrupt or enhance the project long term?
4. THE ETHICS OF PUBLIC DATA. How do we develop an ethical basis for data
practitioners right around the world? Doctors know how to kill but they have
a code of ethics that means they don’t. How do we ensure that data ethics
develop, so the less educated, the less numerate, do not suffer at the hands
of those with the knowledge, skills and motive to abuse their position?