Open data doesn’t empower communities

Posted to Data Sharing  |  Nathan Yau

internet.artizans reflects on the usefulness of open data:

I’m inspired by the idea that nuggets of opened data could seed guerilla public services, plugging gaps left by government, but i don’t see any of that in the data.gov.uk apps list. The reasons aren’t technical but psychosocial – the people and communities who could use this data to help tackle their own disadvantage and marginalisation don’t have the self-confident sense of entitlement that makes for successful civic hacktivism.

The groups that really need it also often don’t have the tech or know-how to make use of – or even collect useful data – to make a case for anything. People like us, the data and tech-savvy can help.

[via migurski]

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