Keynote by Ingmar Weber: From Satellites to Social Media: What Data Tells Us About Society at INSTICC DATA 2025, June 10, Bilbao
In a world awash with digital traces, how can we harness non-traditional data sources to better understand our societies—especially those often left out of conventional statistics? This was the central theme of Ingmar Weber’s keynote at the DATA 2025 conference in Bilbao, organized by INSTICC.
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Ingmar, an Alexander von Humboldt Professor for AI and Chair for Societal Computing at Universität des Saarlandes, offered a compelling tour through recent data-innovation projects that stretch the boundaries of how we measure social phenomena. From counting vehicles in satellite images to estimate conflict-driven displacement, to using online advertising metrics to measure digital gender gaps, He illustrated how unconventional data can reveal hidden dimensions of human life. But as he emphasized, the promise of these methods comes with substantial caveats. “Unconventional data is almost always biased,” he cautioned. Social media analyses, for example, inherently exclude those without internet access—often the very populations most vulnerable to marginalization. This presents a paradox for researchers and practitioners: the very data that offers new visibility can also obscure.
Ingmar discussed his collaborations with development and humanitarian actors, highlighting both the operational value and ethical complexities of data-driven approaches. Insights can indeed make aid delivery more targeted and efficient. Yet, they also carry the risk of reinforcing digital divides, making certain populations more legible to institutions while rendering others effectively invisible.
He concluded with a call for more inclusive methodologies and transparent practices that recognize these limitations—not just as technical issues to be solved, but as ethical challenges that require careful navigation.
As data science continues to evolve, Weber’s keynote was a timely reminder: data doesn’t just describe society—it shapes it. And with that power comes responsibility.
