Northernlands Data Summit and Diversity and Equality Data Workshop
A 1-day summit at ODI Leeds held during Leeds Digital Festival in May 2019. It brought together the people who are creating the data economy to explore the diversity, untapped value, and potential for innovation. Artists, activists, organisations, businesses, data scientists, strategists, citizens – we all have something to gain from innovation with data but we can all do something to contribute as well. The Northernlands was a unique opportunity to explore the ‘art of the possible’ when we work together, think openly, and creatively respond to the challenges we face. Take a look at the write-up from the morning Provoke and Challenge session and the afternoon Explore workshops.
Diversity and Equality Data Workshop
The Diversity & Data Workshop was also held during Leeds Digital Festival at ODI Leeds. This was an afternoon working session to look at the data related to diversity in our organisations, and consider how we can publish, use, and share this data to support all of our work around diversity and equality. This session has been inspired and driven by Yorkshire Water who are advocates for open data and open innovation.
A diverse workforce is productive and benefits from the experience that aforementioned diversity can bring to an organisation. But despite the advantages, there are still challenges and blockades in the way. Data can go a long way towards not only finding these problems but identifying organisation-wide change to improve things. Yorkshire Water published a response to their gender pay gap data last year – their gender pay gap was significantly lower than the national average but they have recognised there is still work to be done.
Publishing more data about diversity and pay gaps is the start – identify the gaps, challenge the methods, explore the solutions.