Open Data: opening democracy?

It is still in its infancy in most places around the world and has yet to be born in others. But, it is an idea whose time is undeniably coming.

What is Open Data? Open Data is quite simply the idea that certain types of data should be free for anyone to use, reuse and redistribute so that it can be turned into valuable information. This is mostly focused on public data, or the data that governments collect. In addition to this, the data needs to be machine-readable so that users can instantly load the data to a computer and begin using it.

The Open Data movement forms part of what is known as the “open movement”. This is a general term used to describe movements around the world that are inspired by the idea of making it possible for ordinary people to contribute to and develop systems, such as computer programmes, that anyone is free to access for their own use.

However, I do not believe that Open Data’s power lies first and foremost in allowing ordinary people to participate in government. Yes, this is one of its greatest strengths. However, its real power lies in the new value it creates through being able to combine different datasets to develop new insights into our world and develop solutions to problems. This is obviously enhanced with the power of technology. Without this value, then there would be no incentive for people to participate in their governments or to challenge them.

This value lies in being able to look for and analyse new patterns, trends and relationships that data combination may provide, if the data is indeed available. Part of a government’s function is to collect data so that it can make better decisions, which is not always freely available to the public to use. The Open Data movement aims to open up this public data so that everybody can make use of the data.

With a simple computer application such as Microsoft Excel, you could combine data on, for example, corruption amongst government officials and data on matric pass rates in South Africa and examine if there is a relationship between the impact of the theft of public money by officials and the quality of education in South Africa. You could look at data on rhino horn poaching and perhaps discover links to the profit from rhino horn sales funding crime syndicates, autocratic regimes and warlords. We could possibly even find new value in indigenous knowledge that we were not aware of. It is a question of finding the data and then using it strategically to build new knowledge. Granted, we have always been able to do this and turning data into information is not quite as simple as I have described above. But we have never been able to work with data on the scale that we are able to now.

As a result, Open Data can help build more just and sustainable societies by promoting transparency, participation, innovation and improved service delivery. With open and equal access to data, governments, private bodies, civil society organisations and citizens can all participate in providing new understandings of and solutions to problems that we currently face. Government alone does not need to shoulder the burden. This has already been shown in a number of examples from around the world.

For example, the Dutch Ministry of Education published online all of their data that they had collected on education. The effect of this was that the number of questions to the Ministry have dropped, which has resulted in reduced costs and freed up work time for the Ministry by not having to respond to enormous amounts of questions about the ministry’s work. Governments such as the US and UK governments are creating portals for releasing some of the information that they collect (see data.gov and data.gov.uk). Civil society organisations can also make use of the data and create useful information in easily accessible formats. There are a diverse array of projects by civil society organisations that use open data to create value, such as Code for America, which works to help the US government build better cities and applications that track, for example, public spending, health issues and global arms sales.

The reality, however, is that governments are not prone to encouraging criticism and challenges from society. Many governments are very reluctantly opening up access to their stores of data, if they are doing so at all.

Despite the undemocratic reasons for which governments may choose to not release data, there are however, some legitimate concerns around freeing data up for anyone to use. This includes issues such as respecting private and personal data, ensuring that people who create data are able to make a decent living from their work through intellectual property rights and making sure that people have the skills necessary to use data effectively. These are important questions that need to be resolved and it will probably take some time before we start to see the Open Data movement gaining traction. These real concerns require that we open up data progressively and carefully.

And, while this is happening, it is important that the people and organisations that form part of the Open Data movement invest in as wide a range of communities as possible; particularly young people from working class communities, even if this investment is just educational workshops for now. As more people are able to afford their own computers and smart devices, it would be prudent and wise to at least start sowing the seeds of change in areas where there is the biggest potential for change.

People would have the basics for empowering social movements just by having access to some data, a few resources and a basic understanding of data analysis. A simple smartphone gives people access to basic tools such as Excel. This could prove extremely useful for entrenching the Open Data movement, considering the number of smart phones currently in South Africa, even amongst working class communities.

It seems that the Open Data movement is confined to “techies” and people who have access to tools such as computers. Yet, the people living in working class communities represent some of the most vulnerable members of our society who need the benefits of Open Data initiatives most urgently. It is in these communities where the value of access to information and data and new ideas is needed most, and could have profound effects. It is also in these communities where we could find considerable strength and support for entrenching the Open Data movement.