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Challenges for a data-driven society




           the  number of  steps taken towards reaching the goal of   and 88% for smart-phones and laptops/computers
           10,000 steps a day;  Documentary tracking – this is the   respectively.
           recording of personal information for the purposes of
           documenting their lives, in  a  manner not different  from   The key  findings  from the  survey are presented hereafter
           journaling about one’s daily activities; Diagnostic tracking   through the analytical  lens of the  Stage-Based  model of
           – this is  where the recording of personal information is  Personal Informatics Systems to highlight and  map the
           done  with the goal of identifying links between various   insights from the survey against  the five  phases  of
           phenomena. For example, to diagnose the link between diet   information flow within this model [15].
           and the occurrence of stomach ailments; Collecting rewards
           – this is for cases where individuals undertake recording of  3.1. Awareness of SDGs
           personal information towards receiving a specific value
           reward; and Fetishised tracking – in this case the allure and   The Sustainable Development Goals form the backdrop
           the pull of the technology is the  main  motivation  for   against which the consideration of individuals’ contribution
           individuals to measure and monitor their personal data.    and participation in the data-driven society is considered in
                                                              this research. The awareness and knowledge of the SDGs
           Individuals play varied and  diverse roles  within the data   by the participants varies widely  from 29.8% of the
           ecosystem such as data producers, collectors, curators, and   participants indicating  not knowing the SDGs, and 25.5%
           consumers. Illustratively one can note examples of   indicating to  have  heard about the SDGs; to 6.4%  who
           individuals playing the role  of being data producers, not   indicated that they know all the SDGs in detail (Figure 2).
           only  in personal informatics  domain but also through the
           myriad  of mechanisms,  such  as using social media  tools
           and also through  what has in recent times been termed
           digital traces.



               3.  INDIVIDUALS ENGAGEMENT IN THE SDG
                             DATA ECOSYSTEM

           The methodological design of this research is  framed
           around three lines of inquiry:  to contribute better
           understanding of participants’ attitudes and values towards
           social indicators monitoring, their current practice towards   Fig. 2. Knowledge and awareness of the SDGs
           social indicators  monitoring, as  well as the use of
           technology to  support social indicators  monitoring. This   Further evaluation  was  undertaken to understand the
           investigation is  framed in the context of the Sustainable   importance that the participants ascribe to the different
           Development Goal 3, which aims to “ensure healthy lives   developmental issues as articulated in the SDGs narratives.
           and promote wellbeing for all at all ages”.        On a five star (1 – 5) rating of the importance of the various
                                                              goals, the average rating across all the SGDs was 4.45. The
                                                              lowest average rating at 4.06 was for SDG 14 (“Conserve
           A  survey instrument  has been used in this research  for
           quantitative data collection for: informing an understanding   and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
           of the participants (i.e. in terms of basic demographics), for   for sustainable development”) and the  highest average
           the  high level identification  of their values and attitudes   rating at 4.79  was for SDG2 (“End hunger,  achieve food
           towards  monitoring and tracking of individually relevant   security and improved nutrition to promote sustainable
           social indicators data, and for understanding the current   agriculture”). For the rankings for SDG3 (“ensure healthy
           practice around monitoring of  relevant social indicators.   lives and promote wellbeing for all ages”), which is of
           The survey is framed to inform a  non-probabilistic   particular focus in this research, the  finding is that the
           descriptive understanding of these issues  for the  specific   majority (80.9%) of participants considered this a very
           individual participants in the research,  without  making   important goal at 5 stars.
           wider population  group  generalizations. This survey
           instrument was administered online and the recruitment of   The importance of awareness as a step towards reaching the
           the participants was done through email invitations, social   SDGs targets can be alluded from literature wherein a high
           media channels and virtual snowballing techniques.   correlation  was found between the level of public
                                                              awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
                                                              and the likely achievement of the MDG indicators [25]. As
           In total 53 people started the survey and 37 of those
           completed the survey. The bulk (58.2%) of the respondents   such building and increasing public awareness around the
           are young people  within the  25 – 34 age group,  with the   SDGs remains an important initial  step towards garnering
           other big groups being 35 – 44 age group at 27.6%, and 45   public support and engagement in contributing data towards
           – 54 age  group at 9.8%.  The participants are  mostly  the monitoring of the SDGs.
           educated and technology-savvy  with 94.1% holding a
           university degree; and  with technology ownership at 96%




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