GGIS professor Marynia Kolak recently participated in a roundtable discussion on the importance of community engagement in data decision-making. She spoke on behalf of her US Covid Atlas project and was joined by members of the Gulf Research Program at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; the University of Pennsylvania’s Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), and the National Alliance Against Disparities in Patient Health to discuss how vital community voice is to developing 21st century public health systems.
"It is even more urgent than ever before to make available insights and data that are of value to communities directly. So, understanding what is the value that is needed, and then for researchers in different groups who are able to really making that a priority of sharing resources and value to communities," said Kolak.
Discussion topics included:
• How to understand the unmet needs of communities, especially historically marginalized groups, through data;
• A reflection on ways in which data can help communities target community-relevant interventions and measure progress;
• The importance of not only including various groups within data, but also providing them with access to the data
Read the full discussion transcript published in Big Data Journal.