Tag Archives: opendata

The Open Data Value Chain – VergeSF conference

Open Data Ecosystem Panel

Open Data Panelists at Verge Conference San Francisco

We have seen Open Data panels and have been part of others in the past couple of years. Most of the times City Officials talking about Transparency, other times technologists.

At Verge SF Jeniffer Belissent from Forrester Research put together a very interesting panel bringing together different players representing the Complete Open Data Value chain. It was pretty clear the impact of Open Data not only for Transparency and Accountability reasons but also to power products, advance research, and to make different players in the industry more efficient.

Who was there?

-       The Open Data Publisher. City of Palo Alto, Jonathan Reichental. Representing the Government that has valuable data and is opening it up to the world. Jonathan is bringing a lot of energy and leadership in the Government Open Data Movement.

-       The Open Data Enabler. Junar, Diego May. Open Data Platform enabling cities around the globe to transform hidden data into usable-discoverable-usable data that can trigger innovation and efficiencies.

-       The Business User of Open Data. Trulia, Jed Kolko. Company that uses Open Data, curates it, packages it, and adds value to it in such a way that it became the Real Estate Marketplace of choice in different markets. The real estate industry is being transformed and profoundly affected by Trulia.

-       The Service Provider in the Open Data ecosystem. Beyond The Arc Consulting, Steven Ramirez. This consulting firm helps big banks and other clients to use Open Data feeds to improve products and customer experience.

It was an exciting conversation ranging from incentives to open data, to experiences in US and abroad, to uses of Open Data and Innovation generated via Open Data.

I liked Steven´s comment about the “Data Poets” that can be creative if there is relevant Open Data to come up with valuable applications bringing such data to content. With Beyond the Arc they are helping clients such as banks to leverage on Open Data to improve products and services.

Jonathan Reichental discussed the motivations in Palo Alto, ranging from an initial motivation of Open Data being the right thing to do, and evolving into the increased efficiency and economic impact of Open Data.

Jed Kolko gave great examples of uses of Open Data. By talking about their APIs and Open Data approach at Trulia they have been approached with suggestions of mashups that can generate really interesting value added datasets and apps.

My personal conclusion. Open Data is certainly evolving from the initial “Proactive Transparency movement” to “Economic impact of Open Data” as well as “sustainable models”. It is clear that raw Open Data is just the beginning and that the real value is coming to fruition as more and more apps are created and as companies start using the live feeds of valuable data to improve their products and services.

Diego May | @diegomay | @Junar

Good news in Open Data for NGOs and Foundations

We have always had a high expectation on how Open Data will become very important for the non-for profit sector. And being part of the “Power of Information” retreat hosted by the F.B. Heron Foundation was just a validation. Why it makes sense for the non-for profit sector to open data? Here’s why:

  • Valuable Knowledge generated. This sector is comprised of a lot of organizations that are created to develop projects of important social impact. Throughout those projects a lot of valuable data is generated. This data can serve many purposes and put in the right Open Data formats it can become searchable and usable.
  • Importance of Operations transparency. The non-for profit sector usually funds its operations via Foundations supporting different areas. Those foundations need to have clear metrics about what is going on and how this data is being used. This also applies when Multilaterals invest in those types of initiatives.
  • Reporting standards being improved.  As we speak, foundations and the non-for profit in general is working to improve the way in which the right standards are to be applied not only to help operational reporting but also to ensure that knowledge and findings can be found and used.
  • A tool for more fund raising. Not all the non-for profits understand this, but I clearly see that the ones that openly share their learning from the projects they work in, and the more value is generated out of those learning (whether projects are successes or failures) the easier it will be for funding institutions to fund their next initiatives.

Though we clearly see a huge potential for the sector embracing Open Data there are of course some challenges:

  • Not all the non-for profits want to share. Though leading non-for profits with clarity on why they exist and what their mission is see an opportunity in Open Data, other organizations that do not “lead” may fear sharing some of their valuable learnings. I cannot express enough how wrong this is, but it is just what sometimes happens in a world in which NGOs have to survive and fundraising may depend on what they know of their markets.
  • Opening Data has a cost that has to be budgeted. Though transaction costs can really be affordable there is still a ‘new’ cost that has to be taken into account. 3k/year plus 1 hr/week from a staff member was not in prior budgets. It is not too much and the impact can be huge, but there is inertia and people to convince. Luckily leading NGOs understand the value of investing in Open Data.
  • Lack of resources and understanding of Open Data. Though some leaders in NGOs and Associations understand the impact of Open Data, not everybody in the field sees the value of investing time and resources into correctly opening data. I recently heard from Jason Payne at Palantir an interesting concept that has to be more widespread in the sector: “Data Philanthropy”. We need more of that!
  • Value of Open Data is not clear for everybody in the sector. Can I do better fundraising if I clearly expose impact and operations? Would foundations support NGOs that are better at reporting? Would the mission of NGOs be better accomplished if their knowledge gets transformed into Open Data that can then be used to progress knowledge to solve problems? We of course have our answer. But not everybody agrees.

Two very intense and definitely interesting days talking with top foundations and NGOs keeps me bullish despite the challenges ahead. The sector is moving in the right direction. The web will some day (not very far from today) be populated by much more valuable data that will fast forward our potential of solving really big problems faster and more efficiently. Diego May

High Altitude Open Data: Data Bootcamp La Paz

A few weeks ago we received an invitation to participate in the Bolivia Data Bootcamp event that took place June 12th through 14th in the beautiful city of La Paz, Bolivia.  We joined a team of data trainers from all over the world to provide assistance with the overall basics of what Open Data is and what it can do to enhance the understanding of a broader public of relevant, local issues through the usage and analysis of public data sources.  We believed that with our field expertise we could contribute to the event, but we didn’t expect to have such a successful experience. ”"
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