How do we achieve the most out of open data?
Opening up data has created a very wide spectrum of possibilities that did not exist before. It is quite marvelous how the world is becoming more and more open. Quantum leaps can now be made easier and sooner. When knowledge is built ontop of knowledge new things can be achieved faster. It is not about who gets credit, but about all of us winning. The productivity and pure brain power that can be derived here is immense.
Open data has also been embraced as a method of creating and showing transparency. Open government data has of course presented a situation where it is easy to track governance and hold politicians, civil servants and government institutions accountable. This makes open data even the more important and impactful.
It has created a common pool of ideas to be built upon. This is of course very useful to researchers, investors, students or hobbyists looking to make inferential conclusions. Data is everything!
Data is no longer the secret preserve of researchers. People are releasing all their research and making their tests, experiments and by extension the results reproducible.
It is safe to acknowledge that the more data we have, collectively, the better.
There are however challenges, such as accessibility, accuracy and generally the question that if putting all this data in one place (open data portal) is the best way to go about it. Will placing a lot of open data in an open portal make it easistst to find and guarantee that a maximum number of people will interact with it? What are the best ways to achieve contribution and incrementation?
One has to begin from the initial point of ensuring that the data is collected with the aim of sharing it in mind. Documentation has to be made through every steps. Problems and tested solutions identified and clearly outlined.
It is also undoubtful that there is a lot of important usable data that is beyond reach. Data that could be used in one of many different ways.There is data that could be built on but is not findable or simply data that the owners do not want to share. What are some of the techniques that can be used to make data owners want to actively share their data?
After that, how do people get to access it in the most convenient and easy way? What are the best approaches when it comes to making open data accessible? How can we get as much as possible shareable data online and how can we make it easily accessible? How do we use readily available and sharable data to get better findings and make quantum leaps?
The main aim of this project is to understand the challenges that are faced when handling open data. To come up with solutions and most importantly to come up with best practices.
The end result shall be a open tool that can be used and improved by whoever wishes to.
There will be constant analysis and feedback to find out if the tool is proving useful.
How to get involved.