Big Data, Bigger Challenges

It's a question we ask frequently at New America - how can we leverage technology and data to better solve public problems? It’s also a question gaining more urgency as we rapidly reconsider the role of technology in public life. From Facebook’s data misuse to the proliferation of high-tech surveillance on marginalized communities, it has become apparent that we must transition away from the mindset that data collection and technological development turned loose in the world will bring about the changes we’d like to see in public policy.

In addition to serving as New America’s vice president of Public Interest Technology and Public Interest, Cecilia Muñoz has been at the helm of a new era where tech and policy experts come together to address inequities exacerbated by technology while developing effective tools to build a more connected and equitable world. It was only fitting that she introduce the second portion of the Millennial Public Policy Symposium, titled “Promises and Perils of Technology and Big Data” - a series of short conversations facilitated Millennial Fellows across the Public Interest Technology, Cybersecurity and Open Technology Institute programs.

Policy experts and elected officials alike might have a great deal of expertise on how a particular public service operates, but because of a lack of digital literacy may not possess the full skill set needed to effectively design legislation that pushes tech to work in the public interest. 

Muñoz emphasized the need to place a greater value on collaboration across skill sets, especially policy analysis and tech product development. Policy experts and elected officials alike might have a great deal of expertise on how a particular public service operates, but because of a lack of digital literacy may not possess the full skill set needed to effectively design legislation that pushes tech to work in the public interest. As Muñoz spoke, we could not help but think of how evident this was last month as senators grilled CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg with a series of non-starter questions like, “Is Twitter the same as what you do?” or whether Facebook is capable of deploying targeted advertising based on what one might say in WhatsApp. It is apparent that our current policymakers need to better acquaint themselves with digital tools.

Tech experts on the other hand, might possess a trove of knowledge about gaps in public services and infrastructure, but lack the perspective of a policymaker on the implications a new technological tool may have on existing government services. Another example that comes to mind is when ridesharing company Lyft announced a pilot service called Lyft Shuttle - a fixed route van that arrives at optimal meeting points in a city. If this sounds like a public bus to you, you’re not alone - Twitter users quickly derided Lyft Shuttle as a pompous Silicon Valley reinvention. Without mindful collaboration tech might not only duplicate public services, but create additional public policy challenges.

Muñoz’s past work demonstrates that tech and policy experts do not need to be enemies. When they come together under effective management, useful tools that foster transparency and equity emerge. She recounted how programmers were brought in from the private sector to assist in the creation of tech-policy during her tenure as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and later Director of the Domestic Policy Council under President Obama. Bringing together policy experts with engineers and product developers, Cecilia spearheaded the creation of the College Scorecard - a digital college rating tool and the Opportunity Project - an agency dedicated to bringing tech in to solve big and small public problems alike. To grow this transformative work, Cecilia said, organizations working for the public good “must operate with the same technological capacity as the private sector.”

Tech and policy experts do not need to be enemies. When they come together under effective management, useful tools that foster transparency and equity emerge.

To be frank, we haven’t quite figured out how this will work yet. Instead, we see the perils of big data -- from racialized, predictive policing in Los Angeles to automated welfare programs in Indiana that kick our most vulnerable community members off public assistance. No doubt, technology does not inherently make our political systems more just -- on their own, they can only reflect or exacerbate our established ways of running government. But, Muñoz emphasized, in collaboration with those that truly know the impacts and outcomes of our public and civil institutions, we can better identify when disparities are happening, and can better understand what to do about them.

And so thinking about technology as another tool for the public interest is essential. “The way we protect voting rights in America is primarily through litigation...it’s never been a perfect tool, and it’s not going to become one. That’s why we need additional tools.” As technology transforms more aspects of daily life, how technology can address public problems becomes a question that can’t be ignored.