After teaching informatics for seven years, I’ve got a new book coming out! Driving Data Projects.
It’s a love letter to my students and a guide to my fellow colleagues. Many employees seek out or are thrust into a series of responsibilities in data management for which there is little formal training. How they engage with data in those roles impacts the privacy and security of consumer data and overall risk to the company's bottom line. The problem?
They aren’t quite sure how data works or how to drive data projects, not really. Today, almost all projects involve data to some degree, yet the data aspect is not adequately addressed.
We need to think of *all* technology projects as data projects. The book helps provide an understanding of the data supply chain (and our responsibilities and accountabilities in that process). It provides a blended project and change management approach to driving data projects effectively—giving a “next step” to consider from wherever you are today.
I draw ideas from many places--the Project Management Institute, Prosci, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, DATAVERSITY, and the DAMA Puget Sound Dama International
There have been some amazing supporters along the way, folks I’ll highlight as the launch day draws near. I’ll start by calling attention to Virginia Eubanks, a writer/professor at the University of Albay, who kindly permitted me to use her Data Oath, which opens the book. I’m a big fan of her work.
Virginia Eubanks shares stories of how the digital tools we interact with worsen bias, subvert democracy, and violate our fundamental human rights. In her book Automating Inequality, these experiences and the many security breaches and data privacy issues leading organizations face suggest that we need to think more broadly about who is included and excluded in the “community” of data science. These systems affect us all as citizens, employees, and consumers – but they don’t impact us equally. Without including the voices and experiences of those who face automation’s most dire effects, data scientists may miss the opportunity to push the field toward social justice.
The opportunity here is that we should develop the skills necessary to examine our approaches to using data and the many ethical, analytical, and technical problems that impact our lives, organizations, and society.
👉 The U.S., CAN, and UK pre-order links are available here or on Amazon
