I watched from a distance on Twitter as the World Bank hosted its annual data event. I would love to have attended - the participants were a pretty amazing collection of economists, data professionals and academics. This tweet seemed to resonate with a theme I've been focused on the last week or so: There is … Continue reading Where Are the Legislators (Who Ostensibly Pay for Data)?
Politics
How is Public Data Produced (Part 2)
I published a post yesterday about how administrative data is produced. In the end I claimed that data gathering is an inherently political process. Far from being comparable, scientifically standardized representations of general behavior, public data and statistics are imbued with all the vagaries and unique socio-administrative preferences of the country or locality that collects … Continue reading How is Public Data Produced (Part 2)
How Is Public Data Produced?
The 2016 Global Peace Index (GPI) launched recently. Along with its usual ranking of most to least peaceful countries it included a section analyzing the capacity for the global community to effectively measure progress in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goal 16, the peace goal. The GPI's analysis of statistical capacity (pp. 73-94) motivates a critical question: … Continue reading How Is Public Data Produced?
After Paris, Now What?
Like many people I've been following the events in Paris with shock and sadness. I've watched the narratives evolve out of the tragedy, and a few resonate with me. Western leaders have seemed incapable of any kind of creative response to ISIL and the wider risks they pose. I responded on Twitter to an article … Continue reading After Paris, Now What?
National Interests, Overwork, and Statistics
I ended up jumping into a Twitter conversation started by international development journalist Tom Murphy about how Rwanda changed the methodology for its Integrated Household Living Conditions survey (EICV), and thus demonstrated that their poverty rate had decreased. The problem is that the new methodology essentially redefines 'poverty' to get the numbers to look good; using the previous EICV methodology, … Continue reading National Interests, Overwork, and Statistics
Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
I was watching the news past Saturday when Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, took time out from a talk on iron ore prices (or something along those lines) to discuss the ongoing issue of people smuggling. It's a short video that you'll have to follow the link to see (The Australian doesn't provide embed code), but … Continue reading Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
Build Peace 2015
I was invited to be a speaker on the panel on behavior change and technology in peacebuilding and Build Peace 2015. The panel was a lot of fun, with some fascinating presentations! You can find them on the Build Peace YouTube page. Here's mine: This was a particularly fun conference, pulling together practitioners, activists and … Continue reading Build Peace 2015
Dachau: A concentration camp up close
Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Dachau memorial outside Munich, Germany. First, I encourage everyone who can to go, it's a superb and moving memorial. Particularly though, as someone who studies violence and the political economy of conflict and who also studied German political history, I was wondering how I'd feel visiting one … Continue reading Dachau: A concentration camp up close
Initial Reflections on the Charlie Hebdo Attack
By now news of the tragic shooting at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris has made it around the world. Since I work in peacebuilding and conflict resolution, it's been interesting seeing how the narratives about freedom of expression and the role of religion have circulated on social media. As I've sifted through the articles … Continue reading Initial Reflections on the Charlie Hebdo Attack
The talk I gave at USAID Sept. 4
For those who were curious about what I discussed with USAID's Office on Conflict Management and Mitigation on September 4, wonder no more. TechChange's video guru got me on camera to record the presentation - hopefully it's useful (or leads to some good arguments at least).
Charles P. Martin-Shields 