[OSGeo-Discuss] GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues - Ethics of GIS Vendor feudalism/colonialism in GIS Education

[Suchith Anand via Discuss]

Dear colleagues


GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics 
Awareness Dialogues are a way to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics 
and ethical business practices. It is important to find the courage to speak 
out on ethical issues affecting humanity.


“The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed" - Mahatma 
Gandhi



I am interested to learn more on Ethics of GIS Vendor Feudalism/Colonialism in 
GIS Education as I am writing an article on GIS education.


Does current GIS curriculums support GIS Vendor Feudalism/Colonialism  in GIS 
Education ? If so, why?



What policies and curriculum are universities, educators adopting to reduce GIS 
Vendor Feudalism/Colonialism in GIS education?


Does your course cover topics on data rights, digital citizenship ?


Are there any university policies and code of conduct to follow if any 
academics/researchers are funded by any GIS vendor (for example, through GIS 
vendor funded faculty posts , research funding by any GIS vendors)?



Can academics and researchers publish articles on GIS education promoting the 
vendor products (either directly or indirectly)?


https://rd-alliance.org/group/geospatial-ig/post/ethics-digital-feudalism-gis-education



More details at 
https://datavaluesdigest.substack.com/p/how-digital-feudalism-hurts-farmers




GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any meetings, 
events , conferences etc in the GIS community (for example in Geography 
Awareness week, GIS Day, GEO meetings , OGC meetings, GEO week etc) to build 
and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices.


Some examples below



https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/geoethics-awareness-dialogues-speaking-truth-power-suchith-anand/


https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/geoethics-awareness-dialogues-suchith-anand/



Ethical frameworks in governance at all levels (from global to national to 
local) are important to protect democracy, protect human rights and prevent 
corruption.


Best wishes


Suchith



Dr Suchith Anand

Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | 
Board member | Governance | Policy | Consultant in Data Science and Data Ethics 
| Global Citizen | SDG Volunteer and Advocate


https://council.science/profile/suchith-anand/

https://www.rd-alliance.org/users/suchith-anand

https://ethicaldatainitiative.org


Email - 
suchith.an...@ethicaldatainitiative.org





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[OSGeo-Discuss] GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues - Speaking Truth to Power

[Suchith Anand via Discuss]

Dear colleagues,


GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics 
Awareness Dialogues are a way to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics 
and ethical business practices. It is important to find the courage to speak 
out on ethical issues affecting humanity.



Is publicly funded Earth Observation (EO) data now being used for benefit of 
few Billionaire Vendor Owners and shareholders of a handful of big data 
platforms ? If so, why?


More details at 
https://datavaluesdigest.substack.com/p/how-digital-feudalism-hurts-farmers



The rise of EO Data Feudalism raises many ethical questions:



Who owns Africa EO Data Portals?  What are the costs to be payed per year to 
the GIS Vendor Owners by African countries and citizens in a few years' time 
for accessing EO data and insights?


Initially the GIS vendors usually give free subscription for a few years to get 
governments and users to adopt the vendor's service and then start charging 
huge amounts per year . You can get some ideas from the discussions on GIS 
subscription model costs and GIS Vendor's Education agenda at 
https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-June/032104.html


What is the impact of EO Data Colonialism for African countries and for the 
people of Africa?



How does EO Data Feudalism affect CARE Principles?

https://www.gida-global.org/care



Is there any information on how much costs do each government have to pay to 
GIS vendors each year ?


Read this email thread few years back (2015) to get an idea of the wider Geo 
data and services subscription model costs charged by some GIS vendors .  The 
cost information is for one department in one city in USA ( $15,000 + per year!)


You can read the full discussion at

https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-June/032104.html



What is the impact of EO Data Feudalism on Humanity?



Why there is a need for GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues ?



“The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed.” Mahatma 
Gandhi



There is a need to promote greater understanding of GeoEthics.  There has been 
some information of unethical business practices by some GIS vendors from pay 
discrimination against female employees to vendor lobbying to racism etc . It 
is important to find the courage to speak out on ethical issues affecting 
humanity.

Details at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A2=GIS-UK;416532f.2210



These GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any 
meetings, events , conferences etc  in the GIS community (for example in 
Geography Awareness week, GIS Day,  GEO meetings , OGC meetings, GEO week etc) 
to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business 
practices.



Ethical frameworks in governance at all levels (from global to national to 
local) are important to protect democracy, protect human rights and prevent 
corruption.



Best wishes


Suchith



Dr Suchith Anand

Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | 
Board member | Governance | Policy | Consultant in Data Science and Data Ethics 
| Global Citizen | SDG Volunteer and Advocate


https://council.science/profile/suchith-anand/

https://www.rd-alliance.org/users/suchith-anand





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[OSGeo-Discuss] GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues

[Suchith Anand via Discuss]

Dear colleagues,


GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics 
Awareness Dialogues are a way to  build and share ideas for developing 
GeoEthics and ethical business practices.



Why there is a need for GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues?


“The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed."  - 
Mahatma Gandhi


There is a need to promote greater understanding of GeoEthics and ethical 
business practices.  There has been some information of unethical business 
practices by some GIS vendors from pay discrimination against female employees 
to  vendor lobbying to racism etc . GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are a way to 
build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices. 
These GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any 
meetings, events etc (for example in Geography awareness week, GIS Day, OGC 
meetings, GEO meetings etc) to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics 
and ethical business practices in all GIS companies and organisations.  Some 
example ethics topics below.



Say NO to pay discrimination against female employees


GIS vendor was found by U.S. Department of Labor for pay discrimination against 
female employees. Details at
https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20220803


What policies are there to ensure that there is no pay discrimination against 
female employees in any GIS companies?




Say NO to corruption, Vendor lobbying and unethical business practices by GIS 
vendors


https://www.rd-alliance.org/group/geospatial-ig/post/ethical-query-vendor-lobbying-giseo


https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/esri-agrees-pay-55-settle-allegations-government-contract-fraud


https://esriunearthed.substack.com/p/esri-and-jerry-lewis




Say NO to Racism in GIS


It is disappointing to learn about the scale of Racial discrimination in the UK 
work environments. Details at 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/more-than-12-workers-quit-jobs-because-of-racism-uk-study-suggests


Study to understand the scale of Racial Injustice in Geographic Information 
Science/Earth Observation Research and Education

https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2022-August/006179.html




Is it Ethical for any GIS Vendors to use  “Science” as part of 
marketing/sales/promoting any vendor brand/products/services?



Is it Ethical for any GIS Vendors  (Vendor X or Y , it doesn’t matter) using 
“science” as part of marketing strategy for selling/promoting their 
products/services/brand. Is using “science” as part of marketing for 
selling/promoting products/services/brand by GIS vendors misinformation ?

http://lists.ogc.org/pipermail/geoethics/2022-August/45.html


http://lists.ogc.org/pipermail/geoethics/2022-August/40.html



GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics 
Awareness Dialogues are a way to discuss and share information in GeoEthics 
topics.  So start GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues in your organisations, 
universities , companies, SMEs etc  to build and share ideas for developing 
GeoEthics and ethical business practices.


These GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any 
meetings, events, conferences etc in the GIS community (for example in 
Geography Awareness week, GIS Day,  GEO meetings, GEO week,  OGC meetings etc) 
to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business 
practices.


Ethical frameworks in governance at all levels (from global to national to 
local) are important to protect democracy, protect human rights and prevent 
corruption.


Best wishes


Suchith




Dr Suchith Anand

Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | 
Board member | Governance | Policy | Consultant in Data Science and Data Ethics 
| Global Citizen | SDG Volunteer and Advocate


https://council.science/profile/suchith-anand/

https://www.rd-alliance.org/users/suchith-anand





This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee
and may contain confidential information. If you have received this
message in error, please contact the sender and delete the email and
attachment. 

Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do not
necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham. Email
communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored 
where permitted by law.




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