Citizensheep » Releasing local data: what are the challenges?

23 April, 2010

Releasing local data: what are the challenges?

On Monday I was invited to a Local Public Data Panel workshop to help address the challenge of releasing local data to the public.

Local council officers, bloggers and activists were brought together to help ‘generate ideas and understanding about what is needed to drive the local public data initiative at a local level’.

The release of raw data allows people to develop tools that the custodians of that data either don’t have the time, skills or remit to, or would never have dreamed of doing anyway. The Crime Statistics Quiz, for example, tests your perception of crime in your local area against the official statistics.

Releasing data also enables members of the public to point out errors, such as incorrectly mapped bus stops. This presents a good opportunity for citizens and state to work collaboratively for the the benefit of society.

Obstacles though are complex and numerous: risk aversion, personal agendas (such as job retention), concerns about quality control and fear of how the data might be used are just some of the challenges that need addressing. But challenges they are, and everyone on Monday seemed more than happy to confront them.

By the end of the day we had come up with a list of things we thought were needed (this list is from my personal notes and not the official record of the meeting):

Data disclaimer for everyone to use;
Clarity and guidance on the release of data;
More clarity on ‘derived data’ (what it is, etc);
Training;
Repeats of this sort of workshop event;
Business case;
Stories of good stuff being done, that everyone can relate to, and presented accessibly;
Research on usage and numbers;
Budgetry incentives;
New legislation, or better use of existing legislation, to encourage the opening up of data;
Untangling of overlapping and seemingly contradictory legislation;
A statutory right to data.