Open Data sounds a bit like ‘Freedom of Information’… if you listen to some local government officers you might imagine the important thing about them is that the law says councils need to make datasets open and respond to freedom of information requests, respectively? But the value of open data is more fundamental because:
Data – the building blocks out of which information, knowledge and wisdom are made.
Information – is made by putting together bits of data in a useful way – for example we might have a piece of data called ‘the parks budget for 2016/17’ and a piece of data which is £2.3m On their own neither bit of data is very informative. Joining the two together in the right way, however, informs us the parks budget for 2016/17 is £2.3m Which is information local leaders could use?
Knowledge can be formed by putting together bits of information in a useful way – for example we might have the following bits of information: the parks budget for 2016/17 is £2.3m; the parks budget for 2017/18 is £2.0m; and the projected rate of inflation for 2017 is 0%. Putting those bits of information (made of data) together forms some knowledge: the parks budget is being cut 15% in real terms in 2017. Knowledge local leaders would find useful?
Wisdom – can be made by putting together bits of knowledge – for example if we knew the real term cuts or increases in all relevant budgets not just in one local authority area, but in a range of comparable authorities, we could form some wise insights around how this authority approaches cuts and the priority it attaches to parks. Of course, this isn’t the only relevant knowledge: adding more knowledge to the mix enables more wisdom. Wisdom which might enable local leaders to decide what to do next to benefit their area?
Wisdom is what leaders hope to bring to decision-making. The wisdom of local leaders can help to: make neighbourhoods better places to live; and ground the development of the city in the realities of the neighbourhoods local leaders represent. But wisdom depends on knowledge which in turn depends on information. Which depends on data. How you can get hold of, and use, data eventually determines the wisdom of your decisions.
Open data is data that is easy to get hold of and use. So, the reason open data matters is that you – and other citizens and local leaders – can use it to make better decisions for your area (and not because the law says the Council needs to make certain bits of data public).
Where next?
the summary of this section on Open Data
why ‘bigger’ isn’t always better when it comes to data
OR – follow the menu on the right to have a look at other parts of the guide.