free data isn't the same as freeing data - mark madsen - third nature, usa

Free Data Isn’t the Same as Freeing Data

September, 2013

Mark Madsen www.ThirdNature.net @markmadsen

Copyright Third Nature, Inc.

A Quick Intro

One of my past jobs…

In some ways it was similar to how people view open data: get free puppies and sell grown dogs. But selling data like a data syndicator is a bad model for public data.


Some of the secrets in this session

Open data does not always mean free data.

Open data = beKer government

When you open data you unlock value in the market that is more important than gaining revenue directly.


Some open data examples

These projects fall into a few different types: ▪ Make data available

▪ Make data pre*y

▪ Make data ac-onable


When you first give people access to informa@on that was unavailable…

OH GOD I can see into forever


ADer a while the response is more measured


Publicdata.eu

Sample app showing staNsNcal data. AKracNve, but how useful?


Open data app <> “make data preKy”

There’s more to data than simply showing numbers.

e.g. many “data+map” applicaNons

If your data looks like the populaNon, you haven’t found the relevant parts yet.


What’s wrong with the City of Oakland CrimeWatch web site? Figuring out what to do

Doing it once you figure out how

Many problems with:

Navigation Control Display Exceptions

City of Oakland Crimewatch

And the reported price was over a quarter of a million dollars for the city, plus annual maintenance.


Oakland CrimespoNng: Let Your Data Go


A Standard Municipal Web Site


Honolulu Answers

Data that you think is worthless may be useful


Figh@ng Fraud and Corrup@on in Educa@on


MassachuseKs Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)

Actionable, immediate


MBTA: Why not sell the data?

Does the government know how to be in the business of selling data? What data is valuable and what isn’t? How to price it? How to negoNate the contracts?

PrivaNzing data is almost always bad: ▪  Translink in Vancouver sold their transit data to Google. Now they have no transit applicaNons and can’t make any. ▪  Admin Office of the US Courts, spent $30M to get digital access to its own records, that it sold for less

▪  Same office paying $156M to publish the same material online ▪  The US GAO and Thomson West legislaNve history, similar tale

▪  Amazon and the US naNonal archives videos, similar tale

▪ WestLaw and LexisNexis make ~$2B annually from this data

Crisis Commons Oil Reporter


Street Bump


Value from open data:

Private is a cost

Available is good

Relevant is beKer

AcNonable is best


The benefits of open data fit into a few categories: Tangible, direct: ▪  Save money – less work, lowered cost of service

▪ Make money – direct revenue (unlikely)

Intangible, indirect: ▪  Improved services

▪ Civil / Social ▪  Indirect revenue and benefits through market growth or market efficiencies


Open data doesn’t mean “data you don’t have to pay for”


Data isn’t really “exhaust”

The data exhaust assumpNon


Open data means “free data” in a different way


Delivering data consistently isn’t always simple Most IT organizaNons have the skills and tools to extract and publish data. Most do not have the skills and tools to create applicaNons on the data.

Anthony David Giordano


Who bears the cost?

Supplier Producer Consumer The cost quesNon is a red herring: different parNes benefit based on their parNcipaNon, and costs vary by party.


The Economics of Scarcity is About Rivalry for Resources

Rivalry: the more I use the less you have. Data is not a finite resource.

Exclusion: intellectual property law is exclusion; you can’t use it unless you pay me first


The Economics of Networked Data Require New Principles

An@-‐rivalry: there is no consumpNon, only use. Open licensing is a way of addressing the change in this dynamic.

Inclusivity: the network effects of inclusion mean more use = more value; and as cost goes down, usage and value go up.

Open data value is driven by network effects


An@-‐rivalry + Inclusivity = Collabora@on & Co-‐crea@on


Which would you rather have?

Open data can make the pie larger, parNcularly for markets with many parNcipants, like regional tourism.

The ra@onale for sharing and collabora@ng: open data is not a zero-‐sum game


For most public data, public domain

Open data licensing creates a network resource rather than an arNficially limited resource.

With completely open licensing, there is the possibility for many people to explore and innovate, more quickly, resulNng in more chances to find the value in data.


How do you get a fancy open data app?

You build it yourself. ▪ Aler training or hiring the staff and acquiring the technology to do it repeatably and at scale.


How do we get a fancy open data app?

You hire a vendor to build it for you. ▪ Oakland showed how well that usually works.

▪  If you don’t have the skills to do something, you may not have the skills to evaluate the vendor doing it either.


How do we get a fancy open data app?

You open the data and someone else writes it for you. And then someone else builds a beKer one.


The government’s job isn’t to be a for-‐profit business. It’s to maintain the infrastructure of a society. Open data can make government more effecNve, creaNng a public good.


Some references Sharing data on the open web -‐ hKps://bmark.us/bmark/readable/88ce9a65bebc38

ExtracNng, Linking and IntegraNng Data from Public Sources: A Financial Case Study, IEEE Data Engineering, September, 2011

Business Models for PSI Re-‐Use: A MulNdimensional Framework, Enrico Ferro, Michele Osella, IsNtuto Superiore Mario Boella, Via Boggio, 61 – 10138 Torino, Italy

OpendefiniNon.org


CC Image AKribu@ons

Thanks to the people who supplied the creaNve commons licensed images used in this presentaNon: dog_peek_fence_bw.jpg -‐ hKp://www.flickr.com/photos/roome/3031410585/

shady_puppy_sales.jpg -‐ hKp://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/5001120150

child_whisper.jpg -‐ hKp://www.flickr.com/photos/cannonball_jane/120325556/

XKCD Heatmap -‐ hKp://xkcd.com/1138/

school small world bank hKp://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/2765585037/sizes/o/

beer_free_beer2.jpg -‐ hKp://flickr.com/photos/fzero/173386050

laptop face.jpg -‐ hKp://flickr.com/photos/sd/7746599/

child_alone.jpg -‐ hKp://flickr.com/photos/beija-‐flor/129669668/

children playing.jpg -‐ hKp://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-‐flor/52292046/

free data isn't the same as freeing data - mark madsen - third nature, usa

Technology