Data is small bits of information (could be words or numbers) that on its own looks quite meaningless. When put in a structure (like a table, spreadsheet or a graph, for example) or compared with other bits of data, however, it can be used to make useful information. Data usually comes in collections – called datasets. So, for example, ‘B1 1BB’ (the postcode of the Council House in Birmingham) is a piece of data. It could be included in a dataset made up as a list of all the postcodes in Birmingham. On the front of an envelope it could be combined with other data including the name of a person or a department at the Council House. This would then be useful information which would enable a letter to be delivered.
‘Open data’ is data that is stored and structured in datasets so that it is easy for anyone to get hold of, share and use to make useful information. Postcodes are an example of open data: anyone is able to look up the postcode of an address; and you can freely download a definition of the area a postcode covers in various forms (eg as a map and as a set of data in a standard form you can use in geographical information systems).
Open Data as a duty and an opportunity
Councils and other public bodies have a duty to make data available to others. In some cases they also have a commitment which stretches beyond their duties. You can, for example, find out about Birmingham City Council’s commitment and the datasets it makes available at the Birmingham Data Factory.
This duty is important and local leaders need to be aware of it, but local leaders can use open data to build information about the areas, challenges and opportunities they face. As more open data becomes available, it becomes more possible for local leaders to use and combine it to make useful information about the places they serve.
Degrees of Openness
In practice, data is never perfectly ‘open’. For one thing, there is a kind of friction that affects data every time you present or use it. This is because the very things we do to present or use data, make it hard to re-use for other purposes. There is no perfect way to present data that does not itself restrict the data being presented. (And, by the way, even if data scientists could dream up a structure that seems perfect given all current potential uses for a dataset, no one can predict the ways we might want to use that data in future).
It makes sense to think about degrees of ‘openness’ in relation to data. The Open Data Institute (ODI) is an independent non-profit founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (who invented the world wide web) and Sir Nigel Shadbolt (the philosopher and computer scientist who is the government’s Information Advisor). The ODI:
- aims to unlock the supply and stimulate the demand for open data
- promotes the creation of private and social profit from the release of open data.
- has come up with a 5 star rating for data openness which helps explain and measure it.
Now you could have a look at
the summary of this section on Open Data
an explanation of the 5 Star approach
OR – follow the menu on the right to have a look at other parts of the guide.