datatesting

To what extent can datasets from open data initiatives address questions about urgent societal issues? How might computational methods be used to evaluate this?

datatesting brings together cultural, social and computational researchers to co-develop interdisciplinary methods for assessing public data in relation to civil society concerns around the world.

Through a series of methods studios, the project combines civil society-led questions with web scraping, data interpretation and machine learning. The studios explore how these approaches might complement the Global Data Barometer, while supporting a transnational community of practice and more inclusive ways of assessing data for public good.

The project received support from the Economic and Social Research Council through the Digital Good Research Fund from October 2024 to June 2025.

Further details can be found on the King’s College London project page and the ESRC Digital Good Network website.