Data stewardship is an emerging field made up of a diverse range of players who are building technologies, organizing communities, engaging governments, and spreading knowledge to rebalance power in data governance.

In the first iteration of our research on data stewardship, we wanted to understand what empowerment through data might look like, who is building projects that attempt to rebalance power, and what harms might exist if projects fail. In the process of conducting this research, we have updated our previous database of builders and compiled a new database of supporting entities who make up the field.

This continuation of the Mozilla Insights Team’s research is intended to accompany the launch of the Mozilla’s Data Futures Lab and inform its future work.

Our research explores the field of data stewardship in three parts: Ecosystem, Consumer Views, and Recommendations for the Lab. While our previous research focused on qualitative desk research, this time around we spoke with people who make up the emerging field.

Based on interviews with diverse actors in the field we explore the open questions facing the field of data stewardship, the pathways builders take to become successful, and how they perceive the power players shaping the Ecosystem. We share initial insights on Consumer Views of data stewardship technologies and what builders are offering. Finally, we compile Recommendations for the Data Futures Lab including suggestions for further research.

The Data Futures Lab and the Mozilla Foundation sit at the intersection of various support and learning pathways. In a year of social and political upheaval, builders across industries are working with communities to solve difficult problems using new models for governing data. The Data Futures Lab has an opportunity to help builders leverage data stewardship as a tool to repair broken trust between communities and the systems that govern them around the world.

Our approach

This research was generated through interviews with 20 organizations working on building and supporting data stewardship governance and technologies, including short follow-up surveys on issues of public perceptions and demand. We created a database of supporting entities in the field by conducting desk research on builders and their relationships to thought partners and funders, and through references provided by interviewees. We also identified support entities based on the work of regional researchers who went deep on data stewardship projects in their global regions in the first phase of our research. Our thanks goes out to Eric Gordon, Yves Daccord, Beatriz Botero, Burcu Baykurt, Anouk Ruhaak, Jackie Lu, and Danny Laemmerhirt for participating in context-setting conversations to inform this research.

We selected interviewees with the goal of balancing the presence of voices from across global regions and industries using the Mozilla Insight’s Team’s networks and additional research into emerging organizations in the field. We prioritized interviews with organizations working around health, platform work, and consumer rights, based on the early interests of the Data Futures Lab. Our goal in speaking to a limited number of interviewees was to go deep with each one and spend time synthesizing insights about the diversity of ideologies and experiences. The process involved three months of interviews and synthesis from November 2020 through January 2021.

Throughout this report, we highlight builders and supporting entities who we feel represent common trends or best practices across the field. Most of the information represented in this report is a composite of insights from our limited interviews and networks, and is not intended to be a definitive or complete view of the field. However, interviewees’ backgrounds and experiences did provide us with overarching frameworks that we hope will be applied to more comprehensive and inclusive research in the future. This research leverages deep conversations with builders and supporting entities to propose new frameworks for mapping power, learning pathways, and strategies across the ecosystem of data stewardship.

Limitations

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What’s next?

The risks of commodification. Ways to incentivize collective action through individual ownership.

Reversibility of consent or data deletion is technically difficult to engineer unless you are working with a pure individual ownership of data model built on blockchain tech. Are consent-based structures enough?

What social governance structure can we build on? Where can we find existing demand?

What is a sandbox? Scale vs small testing.

Key Takeaways

• Most supporting entities in the field are “researchers” and “hybrids” building tech infrastructure and sharing lessons or best practices with their peers, followed by “learning communities” and “funders.” Funders include both philanthropies and VC with varying priorities.
• The field is shaped by open questions such as: data commodification vs. value for the user; tension between personal data protection and collective control; co-opting of data stewardship language; and the potential of building tech solutions on existing social governance frameworks.
• Many builders enter the field through what we call “learning pathways” which affect how they frame data stewardship issues, how they seek funding, and which audiences or industries their work gravitates toward. We examined how builders come to data stewardship through learning pathways like open data, decentralized tech, social justice, or medical research.
• Messages about shifting the paradigm of data ownership toward data stewardship don’t resonate with the general public. Consumers need more concrete information on the value of data or viable alternatives to make the leap to adopting new technologies.
• Data stewardship is a useful tool for people working in marginalized communities or in issue areas where trust has been broken.