The research team of the Centre for BOLD Cities project 'Reintegration in BOLD cities' was invited to present its findings at a seminar on Work & Income for the G4, the organisation in which the four biggest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) are united. Liesbet van Zoonen, the Centre's academic director, was present at the event to deliver a presentation on the use of big, open and linked data for the social domain.
BOLD Cities on the road: this morning, researchers Liesbet van Zoonen, Marike Knoef and Merel Schuring deliver keynote presentations at G4 seminar on Work & Income. pic.twitter.com/dnVYOcSJky
— Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities (@BOLDCities) September 13, 2019
In her talk, Van Zoonen discussed the problems that arise when municipalities intend to work with (big) data, including data quality, legislation and ethical values. She introduced the model that the Centre developed in collaboration with Platform31, which could be of use to civil servants at the beginning of a possible project. Van Zoonen touched on the relationship between data and human interference in many proposed projects, claiming that "data-driven" already implies that the data are in the lead, rather than the people interpreting these data.
Marike Knoef and Merel Schuring took the stage for a duo presentation on the set-up and results of the Re-integration in BOLD Cities project, focusing on the 'What works for whom?' question that played an important role in this project. They showed the effects of different variables, including chronic illnesses, on the chance of people on benefits to go 'back to work'. (Slides from this presentation are available online.)