History of Data Governance

Data Governance is about how to control data of value. A well-known turning point in history was the publication of Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica. This encyclopedia of mathematics of its time, had a 26 page worth of text on what we call Double-entry bookkeeping, which became a foundational literature for accounting.

According to the books by Jane-Gleeson White, Pacioli's double entry book keeping idea influenced the development of arts, sciences, and capitalism. Double-entry bookkeeping as a science of data, not only influenced the practice of the accounting profession, and it had a significant impact on the the formulation of Hamiltonian Mechanics, which is the foundational theory of both classical mechanics and quantum mechanics.

Sir William Rowan Hamilton wrote a paper, which is cited many many scholars to show that he was influenced by the ideas of double entry book keeping. David Ellerman also had a very interesting paper that explains the powers of double entry bookkeeping. For the scientific theories about Double Entry Book-keeping, please see the following references:

Given the intellectual roots of data governance have strong linkages to mathematics and accounting, it is only after the introduction of personal computing devices, and later the ubiquity of Internet access that made data governance an idea relevant to public affairs. The argument is that many people's basic privacy and property rights maybe challenged by people who have access to data collection and deployment technologies. Imminent threats such as fake news, big brother monitoring practices, identity thefts, and crypto currency issuance are already challenging the stability of existing social fabric. Data Governance needs to be grounded in simple principles, so that it can be transparently practiced with local adaptations.