The Observatorio Metropolitano de Agua para Lima-Callao: A Digital Platform for Water and Data Justice

Abstract

This paper details the development and design of the Observatorio Metropolitano de Agua para Lima-Callao (the metropolitan water observatory for Lima-Callao, MWO). The MWO is a digital, collaboratively developed observatory that aims to collect and share data about water access and infrastructuring practices within the metropolitan city of Lima-Callao, Peru. The purpose of developing the MWO has been to contribute to a fairer distribution of water resources amongst urban residents by creating an 'espacio de concertación' and collect and diffuse data on access to and quantity and quality of water for human consumption. By combining collaborative design approaches with the theory-informed data justice principles, we have been able to develop a prototype of the MWO. In general, this teaches us how to design digital platforms according to the principles of data justice in practice.

Decolonising critical information systems research: A subaltern approach

“…A powerful example is the novel literature on Green IS, centred, note vom Brocke et al (2013), on how innovative technologies can participate in the solution of pressing environmental problems. Subaltern perspectives are key to illuminating the power relations underpinning ecological IS projects: in a recent work, Hoefsloot et al (forthcoming) study the metropolitan water observatory for Lima‐Callao, where data about water resources are shared within the metropolitan city. Such data sharing practices, note Hoefsloot et al (forthcoming), are at the basis of a fairer resource distribution, ultimately countering the structural inequalities that affected Lima's water infrastructure.…”