Jagadish et al. take a complex topic and break it down into easily digested portions, digging into each in such a way that gives readers a solid overview. They take a strong perspective: we as computer scientists (and I’m including anyone working with data, from data entry staff up to and including data scientists) have a responsibility to ensure and enhance equity in the systems that we are responsible for and use.

I also want to highlight a key quote, found on page 3: “we advocate for data equity as a broader view of equity at the interfaces between data and society, both before and after decision systems are designed and built.”

My only negative comment about this paper is that the authors didn’t explore additional concepts that might be useful for readers to be aware of, including data justice (“fairness in the way people are made visible, represented and treated as a result of their production of digital data” [1]) and data ethics (“studies and evaluates moral problems related to data, ... algorithms, ... and corresponding practices in order to formulate and support morally good solutions” [2]). Despite this, I still highly recommend this paper for anyone wanting to learn more about this new and evolving area of research.