Just Data

The big data revolution evokes utopistic thoughts of a more inclusive, more just society, where businesses and governments use data to better serve citizens. Data itself, however, is neither just nor unjust. Access to data and use of data are what determine its societal value. The project has three components. Part one includes the study of how algorithms and access to data can increase rather than decrease social inequality. Part two studies transparency and responsibility in the age of big data. Part three studies how big data can inform research on big societal questions.

The added-value of this complex project resides, on one hand, in its highly interdisciplinary and educational, yet academic nature, making it a project of interest for the entire CEU community which is able to reunite people from several departments, with different academic backgrounds (including PhD and master students), and with different levels of experience, and on the other hand in its potential innovative and disruptive methods and results, by bringing important contributions and thus advancing the current knowledge on the still fresh topic of big data, which will have long term effects on all stakeholders involved.