Empowering End-Users for Social Justice
Dataswyft is very honoured to be featured in a special issue of Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ) on social justice.
As the company has its origins in academia, Dataswyft treasures its relationships with researchers from all universities. Through its HATLAB Studio, it assists specialist researchers in navigating our world, enabling them to gain valuable access to clients, partners and other specialists, so they can explore, analyze, and uncover our practices that are often creative, tacit, and oftentimes frenetic.
Professors Ilias Danatzis, Melissa Akaka and Jennifer Chandler (together with Dataswyft Group CEO Professor Irene Ng) have followed Dataswyft's team for 10 years, resulting in this publication. The academic paper published in MISQ titled “Designing Digital Platforms for Social Justice: Empowering End-Users Through the Dataswyft Platform” explores how digital platforms can be designed to promote social justice by empowering end-users to control and benefit from their personal data.
This publication is very much aligned to Dataswyft’s vision for social justice: a more equitable division of resources, opportunities, and privileges in society, with self-sovereign data; ie. data where data subjects hold IP rights and are data controllers and processors able to use and share their own data, unencumbered by legal restrictions set by the data source. Dataswyft believes that self-sovereign data is the only legal class of data that can safely and securely scale globally, through responsible markets, to achieve social justice.
"We are grateful for the many advocates in this space working to change our world and hope this paper gives new impetus for action. We call on governments to enact market-friendly policies for ‘smart data’ to be liberated from siloed centralized systems, so that it can transform society. We call on businesses to unlock the value of their data by enabling their own customers to use it,” Professor Ng said.
Congratulating the paper’s authors, she also thanked them for their insights, time, and patience over 10 years in collecting, recording, analysing and reporting on a very large repository of longitudinal data.
About MISQ
The MIS Quarterly (MISQ) is a premier, international academic journal in the field of management information systems that publishes high-quality research about the development of information technology-based services, the management of information technology resources, and the economics and use of information technology with managerial and organizational implications.
About the Paper
Abstract
The paper investigates how digital platforms can be designed to promote social justice by empowering end-users to control, legally own, and benefit from their personal data. The study introduces a design theory derived from the development and implementation of the Dataswyft platform, aiming to enhance end-user data privacy, control, and self-sovereignty.
Introduction
Digital platforms have revolutionized numerous industries but can also pose significant threats to social justice by compromising user privacy and control. The paper addresses the gap in how digital platforms can be designed to empower end-users through data ownership and self-sovereignty, using the Dataswyft platform as a case study.
Conceptual Background
The paper identifies three main obstacles to social justice on digital platforms:
Maldistribution: Unequal benefits derived from personal data.
Misrecognition: Reinforcement of social hierarchies.
Misrepresentation: Lack of user influence over data use.
To address these issues, the authors propose that platforms should be designed to ensure data self-sovereignty, where end-users have full control and legal ownership of their data.
Methodology
The research utilizes a design science approach, integrating over nine years of data from the Dataswyft platform. The heuristic theorizing process helped identify key design components necessary for developing an end-user-centric platform.
Key Findings
Meta-Requirements
Personal Data Privacy and Security: Ensuring end-user data is protected.
Personal Data Control: Allowing users full control over their data.
Personal Data Collection, Contextualization, and Visualization: Enabling users to collect and reconfigure their data.
Personal Data Exchange: Facilitating data exchange for benefits.
Platform Ecosystem Centering on Personal Data: Creating an ecosystem where personal data is central.
Design Principles
Decentralized, Containerized Microservice Infrastructure: Ensures scalable and flexible data management.
Legal End-User Database Ownership: Grants users property rights over their data.
End-User-Driven Data Collection and Contextualization: Users can collect and reconfigure their data.
Responsible End-User-Controlled Data Exchange: Users control data sharing and benefits.
User-Friendly Data Visualization and Management Tools: Interfaces for data control and visualization.
Multi-Layered Data Security: Protects data at rest, in transit, and in use.
Semi-Centralized Ecosystem Governance: Balanced governance structure.
Continuous Communication: Engaging current and potential platform users.
Dataswyft Platform and Self-Sovereign Data
The Dataswyft platform exemplifies the proposed design principles. The platform is built on a decentralized, containerized microservice architecture that supports data self-sovereignty. This infrastructure ensures that users have legal ownership and control over their data, empowering them to collect, manage, and exchange their data securely.
The concept of self-sovereign data is pivotal, as it shifts data ownership from platform owners to end-users. The Dataswyft platform enables this by allowing users to host their data in private containers, ensuring that they have full control and can decide how and with whom to share their data. This approach aims to mitigate social injustices by promoting equitable data distribution, recognizing diverse user needs, and giving users a voice in how their data is used.
Demonstration and Evaluation
The Dataswyft platform's implementation showcases the practical application of the design principles. The platform's ability to empower users through data control and privacy is evaluated, demonstrating its effectiveness in promoting social justice and data self-sovereignty.
Conclusion
The study provides a comprehensive design theory for digital platforms focused on end-user empowerment and social justice. By centering on self-sovereign data, the study on Dataswyft platform offers a blueprint for future digital platforms aiming to balance technological innovation with social equity.
Download the full published paper from the publisher site here