Web Science Trust Board member, John Taysom writes on the Importance of Data Governance, with Special Reference to Finance in a recent Royal Society and British Academy publication. The report, Connecting debates on the governance of data and its uses, brings together contributions from leading representatives from academia, government and business; including experts in ethics, law, finance, social and data sciences, machine learning and statistics in order to build connections between existing debates, and identify key questions and gaps.
The Academies have initiated a project examining new uses of data and their implications, and reviewing the data governance landscape. The project will make recommendations for cross-sectoral governance arrangements that can ensure the UK remains a world leader in this area.
At the Web Science Institute seminar held earlier this week WST board advisor, Anni Rowland-Campbell spoke on the socio-technical changes that are happening in the world as a result of the Social Machine, which began with the World Wide Web. The talk focused on Tim Berners-Lee proposal of the Web where the “people do the creative work and the machine does the administration”1. Setting out to challenge this, Rowland-Campbell argued that the balance between “man” and “machine” is changing, and the idea of humanity is changing as a result. In her talk she provides a number of suggestions on how this symbiotic relationship between man and machine may play out.
WST Managing Director, Professor Dame Wendy Hall, has received a significant award that honours women in maths and computing.
Professor Hall is one of 12 women to receive a Suffrage Science Award today (11 October) to celebrate their scientific achievements and ability to inspire others, at a special event at Bletchley Park. The event coincides with Ada Lovelace Day, an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Professor Dame Wendy Hall said: “I’m deeply honoured to receive this award amongst other extraordinary women in maths and computing. However, I remain frustrated by the need for such schemes as Suffrage Science to exist. It will only change if it becomes everyone’s issue and not just a women’s issue. We need to get the language right, which is we’re top scientists, not top women scientists”.
Women make up no more than four in ten undergraduates studying maths (London Mathematical Society), and fewer than two in ten of those studying computer science (WISE report, 2014).
WST Chair, and Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences, Jim Hendler gave the keynote address at the European Semantic Web Conference 2016 in Heraklion, Crete this morning. In his talk, W(h)ither OWL in a Linked Data, Knowledge Graphed World?, Professor Hendler discussed the limitations of Web Ontology Language (OWL), a Semantic Web logic-based language that is used to represent relations between things. His talk focused on how and why the adoption OWL has failed to live up to expectations, and the possible futures of knowledge description on the Web.
Web Science Trust Managing Director, Professor Dame Wendy Hall has been named one of the top most inspirational women in European technology by the Inspiring Fifty programme. Recognising Dame Wendy’s prominent global role in the development of the Semantic Web, and the academic discipline of Web Science (which celebrates it’s 10th anniversary this year), judges on the Inspiring Fifty panel acknowledged the significant part she has played in encouraging women into Science, Engineering and Technology. Dame Wendy has, they say:
“shattered many glass ceilings … to promote the role of women in SET, and acting as an important role model for others”.
In addition to her work at the WST, Dame Wendy is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and Executive Director of the Web Science Institute. One of the first computer scientists to work in ground-breaking multimedia and hypermedia research, Dame Wendy’s contribution is of international significance. She currently leads Semantic Web application research, and explores the interface between the life sciences and physical sciences.
Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Southampton University, believes in the power of open data. With Sir Tim Berners-Lee he persuaded two UK Prime Ministers of the importance of letting us all get our hands on information that’s been collected about us by the government and other organisations. But, this has brought him into conflict with people who think there’s money to be made from this data. And open data raises issues of privacy.
Nigel Shadbolt talks to Jim al-Khalili about how a degree in psychology and philosophy lead to a career researching artificial intelligence and a passion for open data.
by John Taysom.
