Page 97 - Proceedings of the 2017 ITU Kaleidoscope

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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