A data wheel and process are the core of new New Zealand guidelines for trusted data use, released today by the Data Futures Partnership.
The wheel is designed to allow organisations adopting the guidelines to display, online or in paper, the answers to eight key questions about the use of personal data they collect.
The non-compularoy guidelines, contained in a booklet titled A path to social licence: Guidelines for trusted data use, are the product of consultations with thousands of New Zealanders to understand how they feel about the sharing of their data.
Segments of the wheel can be clicked through online to allow users to drill down for more detail about specific aspects of data use.
The Data Futures Partnership, an independent group appointed by the government, said the guidelines provide a way for oganisations to be transparent about what they want to do with data they collect.
Individuals can then decide whether or not that organisation has earned their trust.
The Partnership's working group has tried not to be prescriptive as such guidelines would quickly become dated, instead emphasising transparency and permission. The guideliness also apply only to lawful data and will not affect existing legal requirements.
At an embargoed press conference in Auckland this week, it was clear the guidelines will require both process and probably technical changes to manage implementation of the guidelines at any scale.
The Q&A soundfile embedded below traverses those and other issues, such as when and where the guidelines can apply.
"Comfort around data use is contextual," said Dame Diane Robertson, chair of the Data Futures Partnership working group that developed the guidelines.
"Organisations should always aim to proceed with social licence - trusted use - particularly when the data use is novel or affects vulnerable groups.
"How personal data is used is not always clear to New Zealanders. People want to know how the Government, businesses, not for profits and other organisations are collecting and using their data."
The partnership will work with organisations to test and refine the guidelines over the next three months.
Answering on soundfile below: Chair Dame Diane Robertson and working group members Professor Rhema Vaithianathan and Lillian Grace, CEO and founder of Figure.NZ. Asking: journalists Rob O'Neill and Davina Paredes (IDG), and NBR's Nathan Smith.
