Advocating for and with Open Data Development Data Group

What is open data? How do you advocate for open data? How do you advocate with open data? Advocating for and with Open Data

Data doesn’t change the world People do Data doesn’t appear by itself People make and curate it Data doesn’t tell the whole truth Data needs context Remember

It’s data that’s technically open You can search for it and find it easily online It’s available in an editable electronic format What is open data?  xls, json, txt, csv, xml, html, doc, API, odt, ods etc. PDF, images (JPG, GIF, PNG), other proprietary formats.

It’s data that is legally open You can use it freely You can re-use it freely You can redistribute it freely Use it for commercial and non-commercial purposes It may require that you attribute the publisher when the data is used All of the above should be clear in a usage license or terms of use What is open data?

The main arguments for open data: Transparency e.g. Who is doing what, where? Where does the money go? Engagement Let others see your data, interact and provide feedback Efficiency Let others finds ways of improving what you’re doing Innovation Let people do new things with your data How to advocate for open data

Ask yourself: What kinds of questions do you want to answer? What datasets do you need? What data is already collected and published? How to advocate for open data

Find the owners and publishers of the data and: Demonstrate the value of open data to you What are the questions you want to answer? What similar things have others done internationally? Demonstrate the value of open data for everyone You only have to open up data once. A community of use around open data benefits all. How to advocate for open data

What do you want to change? Have a clear issue in mind How can change come about? Have a clear mechanism for change in mind Who can help you bring about change? Understand your audiences and their capabilities Data should support your message Data should not be your message. How to advocate with open data

Percentage differences can be deceptive From 2% to 4% is a 100% increase - it may sound more significant than it is. Make sure your comparisons are valid Do the numbers you’re comparing mean the same thing? e.g. GDP and GNI are different. Be careful when visualizing data Graph scales can mislead, chose right method, pie charts are rarely useful, avoid “chartjunk” Don’t forget to consider and cite the data source Can you trust the source of the data? Where did it come from, how and why was it produced? People will trust your data more if you cite it, particularly if it’s a reputable source. Remember basic data literacy!

1.An institution makes open data available online 2.Advocate transforms it into new form that people can better access, use and understand 3.People access information in this new form and take the action advocated desire What advocacy with open data can look like

Represent Data in new ways

Put data into context UK public expenditure open data available online Useful - but hard to engage with!

Put data into context The same expenditure data visualised to give it more meaning

Put data into context The same expenditure data visualised differently

Put data into context

New ways of delivering data

Personalise your advocacy Data relevant to an issue is often available at a local level. Present people with information that’s relevant to where they are.

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