In The Classroom

Data Ethics White Paper Guides Classroom Discussion on Inter-Industry Data Concerns

By Paul Schrimpf, Director of Marketing and Communications

Consideration of the ethical collection, storage and use of data is a significant issue across every industry segment, and for those who are – or will soon – be in a position to impact the handling of sensitive data.

Agriculture’s own discourse on data ethics issues provides a strong example of the kinds of issues all industries are facing and took center stage recently in a classroom at Portland State University. Representatives from AgGateway and the National Agricultural Producers Data Cooperative (NAPDC) were invited to present to a group of graduate students as part of a course titled “Ethics in Convergence Research.”

“This seminar explores ethical issues in environmental and interdisciplinary research, from environmental justice and risk management to data and AI ethics,” says Ana Sofía Castellanos, who represented both the NAPDC and the National Policy Consensus Center (NPCC) at Portland State along with NPCC colleague Robin Harkless. Ben Craker, AgGateway Portfolio Manager, rounded out the panel presentation.

”In the class there are 15 students from a mix of departments, says Castellanos, “mostly from the School of Earth, Environment and Society. This includes geography, geology, applied geoscience, systems science, and emergency management, as well as public policy and environmental engineering. Data and AI ethics, specifically ethical issues in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sensitive data and using AI, are of most interest.”

Craker, shared some perspectives on the state of data ethics policies and discussion in agriculture, and provided an overview of the recently updated Data Ethics White Paper that the organizations coordinated. Appendix C of the white paper in particular provides a list of references for different frameworks for ethically managing data.

“Working with Robin and Sofía, we walked the students through a case study relating to a water quality issue in a community, says Craker. “Who had data, who wanted data, and the implications of different models and analysis tools was great food for thought for the class. Being able to point to a list of references in the White Paper was helpful to get them started with some real-world strategies on how to think about ethically managing data up front, not after a project is already underway.”

Not surprisingly, the gravitational pull of Artificial Intelligence drove post presentation questioning. “Students were very engaged,” says Castellanos, ”and they were wanting to understand what policies exist in the ag sector around AI. They were curious about that, because there is a lot of uncertainty. How we can use it, how we can incorporate it into the work we are doing in our separate industries.”

There are a lot of uncertainties around AI, she adds, “because I think we haven't figured out yet what to do with data, or how to manage or govern data in different cases – not only in the ag sector, but everywhere. What else do we need to know in order to use this in a proper way that is more positive than negative? We need to work together across industries to figure it out and close the collaboration gap between us.”