Data hubris? Humanitarian information systems and the mirage of technology

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 37, Issue 8, 2016, Pages 1314-1331

  Read, Róisín ^a   Taithe, Bertrand ^a   Mac Ginty, Roger ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Conflict and security; data; humanitarianism; ICT and digital economy; participation and power

Indexed keywords

ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK; INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY; INFORMATION SYSTEM; TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT;

EID: 84975113514     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2015.1136208     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. L.Amoore, “Algorithmic War: Everyday Geographies of the War on Terror.” Antipode 41, no. 1 (2009): 49–69.
2. M.B.Anderson, Do no Harm: How Aid can Support Peace – or War. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1999.
3. T.J.Barnes, “Big Data, Little History.” Commentary: Dialogues in Human Geography 3, no. 3 (2013): 297–302. http://dhg.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/3/3/297.
4. J.Benthall, Disasters, Relief and the Media. London: I. B. Tauris, 1993.
5. R.Box, “Running Government like a Business: Implications for Public Administration Theory and Practice.” American Review of Public Administration 29, no. 1 (1999): 19–43.
6. D.Boyd,, and K.Crawford. “Critical Questions for Big Data.” Information, Communication & Society 15 (March 2015): 662–679.
7. R.Burns, “Moments of Closure in the Knowledge Politics of Digital Humanitarianism.” Geoforum 53 (2014): 51–62. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.02.002.
8. R.Burns, “Rethinking big data in digital humanitarianism: practices, epistemologies, and social relations.” GeoJournal 80 (2015): 477–490.
9. M.Büscher,, M.Liegl, and V.Thomas. “Social Collective Intelligence in Crises.” In Social Collective Intelligence: Combining the Powers of Humans and Machines to Build a Smarter Society, edited by D.Miorandi, V.Maltese, M.Rovatsos, A.Mijholt, and J.Stewart, 243–265. London: Springer, 2014.
10. D.Chandler, “A World without Causation: Big Data and the Coming Age of Posthumanism.” Millennium 43, no. 3 (2015): 833–851.
11. L.Chapplain, De l’intendance du corps médical militaire et de la mortalité dans l’armée, réponse à monsieur le docteur Chenu. Paris: Jean Dumaine, 1872.
12. J.C.Chenu, De la mortalité dans l’armée et des moyens d’économiser la vie humaine. Paris: Hachette, 1870.
13. J.Cole, The Power of Large Numbers: Population, Politics, and Gender in Nineteenth-century France. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.
14. S.Collinson,, and M.Duffield with C.Berger, D.F.da Costa, and K.Sandstrom. Paradoxes of Presence: Risk Management and Aid Culture in Challenging Enviroments. London: HPG, ODI, 2013.
15. R.Cooter,, M.Harrison, and S.Sturdy. Medicine, War and Modernity. Stroud: Sutton, 1999.
16. K.Crawford,, G.Faleiros, A.Luers, P.Meier, C.Perlich, and J.Thorp, 2013. Big Data: A Framework for Action, pp.1–13. Available at: http://poptech.org/system/uploaded_files/66/original/BellagioFramework.pdf.
17. M.Dodge,, and C.Perkins. “The ‘View from Nowhere’? Spatial Politics and Cultural Significance of High-resolution Satellite Imagery.” Geoforum 40, no. 4 (2009): 497–501.
18. M.Duffield, Disaster-resilience in the Network Age: Access-denial and the Rise of Cyber-humanitarianism DIIS working paper 23. Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies, 2013.
19. M.Duffield, “The Digital Development-Security Nexus: Linking Cyber Humanitarianism and Drone Warfare.” In Handbook of International Security and Development, edited by P.Jackson, 80–94. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014.
20. U.Eco, “On the Impossibility of Drawing a Map of the Empire on a Scale of 1 to 1.” In How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt, 1994.
21. L.Fast, “Securitization and Threats to Humanitarian Workers.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 313–323. Abingdon: Routeldge, 2015.
22. A.-M.Fechter,, and H.Hindman. “Introduction.” In Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers: The Challenges and Futures of Aidland, edited by A.-M.Fechter and H.Hindman, 1–19. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press, 2011.
23. C.Fredj, “Compter les morts de Crimée: un tournant sur l’identité professionnelle des médecins de l’armée française (1865–1882).” Histoire, économie & société 29, no. 3 (2010): 95–108.
24. S.Garman, “New Communications Technologies in Emergencies.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 440–452. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
25. E.Graeff,, and N.J.Matias. “Making Drones Civic: Values and Design Principles for Civic Technology.” Paper presented at the ‘Unmanned Rights: Drone Use by Civil Society’ panel at the International Studies Association’s 56th Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA, February 20, 2015.
26. Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies. Washington, DC/Newbury, UK: UN Foundation/Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership. http://www.wspa.ca/wspaswork/disasterrelief/Default.aspx.
27. M.Howard, The Invention of Peace. Yale: Yale University Press, 2000.
28. J.Hughes-Wilson, A History of the First World War in 100 Objects. London: Cassell/Imperial War Museum, 2014.
29. R.Kent,, and S.Evans. “Humanitarian Futures.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 387–402. Abingdon: Routeldge, 2015.
30. R.Mac Ginty, “Routine Peace: Technocracy and Peacebuilding.” Cooperation and Conflict 47, no. 3 (2012): 287–308.
31. F.Mancini,, and M.O’Reilly. “New Technology and the Prevention of Violence and Conflict.” Stability 2, no. 3 (2013): 1–9.
32. C.P.Martin-Shields, “Technology, Conflict and Crises: Crowdsourcing Technology in Conflict Resolution and Crisis Management Research and Practice.” Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, February 20, 2015.
33. E.Mawdsley, “‘Non-DAC’ Humanitarian Actors.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 204–214. Abingdon: Routeldge, 2015.
34. A.McKechnie, “The Private Sector and Humanitarian Action.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 241–253. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
35. P.Meier, “Crisis Mapping in Action: How Open Source Software and Global Volunteer Networks are changing the World, One Map at a Time.” Journal of Map & Geography Libraries 8, no. 2 (2012): 89–100.
36. P.Meier, Digital Humanitarians: How Big Data is changing the Face of Humanitarian Response. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2015.
37. M.B.Morand, “Urban Refugees.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 417–428. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
38. W.J.Muhren,, and B.Van de Walle,. “A Call for Sensemaking Support Systems in Crisis Management.” Studies in Computational Intelligence, no. 281 (2010): 425–452.
39. Nepal Earthquake: Drone captures Incredible Footage over Kathmandu showing Aftermath of the Disaster.” Daily Mirror, April 27, 2015. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/nepal-earthquake-drone-captures-incredible-5592151.
40. P.Pallister-Wilkins, “Personal Protective Equipment and the Humanitarian Governance of Ebola.” Paper presented at the International Studies Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, February 2015.
41. C.Perkins, & M.Dodge,, 2009. Satellite imagery and the spectacle of secret spaces. Geoforum, 40(4), pp.546–560. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.04.012.
42. M.Poovey, A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
43. R.Read,, and R.Mac Ginty. "The Politics of Coding Violence: Exploring the Ontologies of Security Incident Databases." Unpublished draft (2015).
44. A.Redmond, “Professionalisation of the Humanitarian Response.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 403–416. Abingdon: Routledge.
45. Riencourt, Comte de, Les blessés oubliés – les pensions militaires pour blessures et infirmités. Abbeville: Paillart, 1882.
46. S.Roddy,, J.-M.Strange, and B.Taithe. “The Charity-mongers of Modern Babylon: Bureaucracy, Scandal, and the Transformation of the Philanthropic Marketplace, c. 1870–1912.” Journal of British Studies 54, no. 1 (2015): 118–137.
47. S.Salvatici, Silvia. "‘Help the People to Help Themselves’: UNRRA Relief Workers and European Displaced Persons." Journal of Refugee Studies 25, no. 3 (2012): 428–451.
48. K.B.Sandvik,, M.Gabrielsen Jumbert, J.Karlsrud, and M.Kaufman. “Humanitarian Technology: A Critical Research Agenda.” International Review of the Red Cross 96, no. 893 (2014): 219–242.
49. Shocking Drone Footage shows Vast Destruction in Nepal.” RYOT, April 27, 2015. http://www.ryot.org/drone-footage-nepal-earthquake/930404.
50. H.Slim, “Wonderful Work: Globalizing the Ethics of Humanitarian Action.” In The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, edited by R.Mac Ginty and J.H.Peterson, 13–25. Abingdon: Routledge, 2015.
51. B.Taithe, “Reinventing (French) Universalism: Religion, Humanitarianism and the ‘French Doctors’.” Modern and Contemporary France 12, no. 2 (2004): 147–158.
52. J.Toner, Roman Disasters. Cambridge: Polity, 2013.
53. UN High Level Panel. Economies through Sustainable Development of a new Global Partnership: The Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. New York: United Nations, 2013.
54. UN OCHA. Humanitarianism in the Network Age. New York: United Nations, 2012.
55. UNICEF. “Nepal Earthquake: Amazing Drone Footage shows Impact of Disaster.” UNICEF Blog. 2015. http://blogs.unicef.org.uk/2015/05/06/nepal-earthquake-drone-footage/.
56. P.Van der Windt,, and M.Humphreys. “Crowdseeding in Eastern Congo: Using Cell Phones to collect Conflict Events Data in Real Time.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, no. 1 (2014): 1–34. http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/0022002714553104.
57. R.Vazquez Llorente,, and I.Wall. “Introduction.” In Communications Technology and Humanitarian Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities for Security Risk Management, edited by R.Vazquez Llorente and I.Wall, 4–6. European Interagency Security Forum (EISF).
58. Weissman, and Neuman. Saving Lives and Staying Alive: The Professionalisation of Humanitarian Security Paperback, edited by M.NeumanMichaël, and F.WeissmanFabrice. London: Hurst, 2016.