A few thoughts on the year at Connected by Data:
I’m learning: This sounds overly vague, but was actually a new year’s resolution or recommittal of mine; to find new things and ways of learning. Starting at Connected by Data in January 2023, as the first waves of ChatGPT induced frenzy crashed over us all, I’ve become immersed in a new vocabulary, community and organisation. Much like with a new language, you’ve gotta move somewhere else to really learn. I feel privileged to have been able to do this as part of the Connected by Data team.
I’m seeing the continuity amid the change: I’m struck by the remarkable stamina with which AI has maintained a presence over the years as a matter of media attention, public concern and political machinations. Yet for all the newness that is indicated and promised, it has also underscored some age-old questions and tensions that technological developments always do. Issues of direction, power, progress, burdens and benefits and how the terms of the debate get set.
A network is being built: There’s an incredible range of organisations working on a progressive approach to data and AI from different angles - technical, policy development in different sectors, political influencing, narrative shaping.
But how can their work be amplified? We started from the premise that creating a regular space for people to share, collaborate, be exasperated and get to know each other could create the relational and infrastructural basis of a network that mobilises otherwise fragmented efforts into a more coherent and powerful force that tackles exactly those political questions cited above. Through regular calls, away days, signal groups and more formal and public events and interventions we’ve started to do that this year in a way that feels like it’s meeting a need. We don’t all share the same analysis or focus, but there is an openness and generosity to working together that is foundational to building a democratic approach for how data and AI changes our world.