The problem with open data is….

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open data people?

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[An admission: in some of the following slides I’ll be over-simplifying the business model / ecosystem for open data as I don’t have simple slide descriptions. Yet.Now on with the show….]

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What makes data open?

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Open data is data that anyone can access, use and share.

Read more at: http://theodi.org/guides/what-open-data

It is a need for every service.

Image from GDS GaaP video (OGL): https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2015/03/29/government-as-a-platform-the-next-phase-of-digital-transformation/ @peterkwells

Open data

Not only online transactional services.

The UK is open-by-default.

Data-driven services

Anyone can use it to build services.

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Data

Service users

Public Sector

Public services

Created by

open d

ata

Data-driven services

People don’t just use public sector data

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Data

Service users

Public SectorPrivate Sector

Third Sector

Created by

open d

ata

People don’t just use open data to build services.

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We all know it’s hard work to build services. There’s a lot of gravel to shift.

@peterkwellsImage by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/

But starting with open data anyone can design and build services to meet people’s needs.

Open data makes it simpler.@peterkwells

People build open government services.

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People build consumer services.

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People build business services.

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And I didn’t even list the services that the public sector builds with open data.

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Open data is a force multiplier.

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It can allow the public sector to meet more user needs.

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Data

Service users

Public Sector

Data-driven services

Public services

Created by

open d

ata

Unfortunately the public sector often fails to meet ‘open data user’ needs.

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Publishing.

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Don’t ask “why publish?” Ask “why not?

Publishing the data, even incomplete, is the basic starting point.

Clear licensing.

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OK, not just spelling... Many public sector datasets, even recent ones, have unclear licensing or even no licence at all. People need to know what they can use the data for.

Bulk downloads.

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Bulk downloads make it simple for people to build new services.

The feature is missing from many new public services.

Mechanisms to release data.

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There are currently closed datasets that offer immense potential to build new services with economic, social and environmental value.

Discovery.

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If people can’t find the data then they can’t use it.

Clear data ownership.

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And many, many more open data user needs.

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Governance.Data standards.Persistent identifiers.Feedback mechanisms.Sustainable data releases.And so on….

Open data users spend a lot of their time asking & waiting & complaining on twitter & asking & waiting & asking & waiting for these needs to be met.

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Sometimes they can’t just “do it themselves”.

The hard work of releasing open data has to be done by someone else.

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To put it simply if open data users have to shift more gravel...

@peterkwellsImage by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/

… then less effort goes into building services for users.

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Data

Service users

Public Sector

Data-driven services

Public services

Created by

open d

ata

Which makes open data people feel sad...

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...as not enough time is spent building open data stars...

@peterkwellsImage by: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davedehetre/

...that are designed to meet more user needs.

@peterkwells

Data

Service users

Data-driven services

Created by

open d

ata

Public SectorPrivate Sector

Third Sector

Data publishers

The problem with open data?

@peterkwells

The problem with open data is gravel.

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End.

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ContextPresented at People before Pixels in London on 28 July. Audience were public sector people mostly user researchers and service designers.

The problem with open data is open data people ( http://www.comms2point0.co.uk/comms2point0/2015/6/8/the-problem-with-open-data-is-open-data-people.html) which made me question why the open data community use so much “technical” language.

Discussion post presentation included:

1: Can open data be driven by user needs2: The difference between National Information Infrastructure and data infrastructure3: The organisations and sectors outside of government that are joining Generation Open4: The ecosystem and business model for open data and government-as-a-platform5: Are there cases where open data has killed ecosystems? Built ecosystems?6: Is there enough focus on user needs within the open data community?