Acknowledgments

I owe a great deal to Laura Sebastian-Coleman, for coming up with the initial idea for this book, for encouraging me to take the project on and for supporting me throughout the writing. I also thank my wife and family for their moral support and their practical help. Thank you, Hazel Clarke and Mark Barringer for helping me to express myself in a foreign language.

Whenever there is a quote, it is that person’s true words. Wherever I have been inspired by someone, and I am aware of it, it has been noted. Everywhere else it is simply based on my true experience. It is possible that I could just have been inspired unknowingly by someone and have simply forgotten the origin of an idea. If that has happened in this book, I am truly sorry for not mentioning that person.

I cannot write about running data governance in a large organization without mentioning Robert S. Seiner, the inventor of the “non-invasive data governance”1 concept. I have adopted very much of his approach to establish data governance. My intention is to take this a step further by adding a non-coercive concept and diplomatic data governance behavior.

As I do not have a completely comprehensive knowledge of this topic, I have invited a group of people to discuss data diplomacy as they have many insights in these matters. I wish to thank the following for their invaluable assistance, experience and contributions. This writing process could not have come into fruition without these knowledgeable contributors.

Lena Lindroth, Jonny Salo-Premmert, Joachim Bondeson, Ove Sirefeldt, Mimmi Nilsson, Johan Lindholm, Sofie Fischer, Michael Åsman, Pelle Graveleij and Jenny Lundholm.

Data diplomacy disclaimer:

There is an alternative meaning of the data diplomacy notion with a political and social perspective which is about being able to share data for the public good all over the world. It may, for example, include the sharing of big data sources within drug research, epidemics and medical care. Such variant of data diplomacy is handled deeper in other literature rather than here.