Tag Archives: business cases

Dealing with Open Data excuses

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An Open Data Camp 7 session on countering excuses for not publishing open data, led by Jenny Broker. Liveblogging: prone to error, inaccuracy and howling crimes against grammar and syntax. Post will be improved in the coming days.

Drawnlaism: a discussion on Open Data Excuses

Excuse: It’s a safety thing – it’s critical and it could be useful to terrorism

Safety is the first thing people will come after you with. For example, in utilities, it’s a very real concern, particularly around the location of assets. Is this a genuine concern, or an easy way of shutting down a conversation? Is this information that’s not already accessible via Google Maps, for example? Crashing critical infrastructure is a genuine risk. The most risky data is already heavily controlled — and is often not even shared within government. That comes with its own problems – issues get missed because staff don’t have access to the full picture.

So, if Google Maps has the data, if we make it more accessible, is there a potential for spotting problems earlier? Well, liability now raises its head. Pretty much all datasets are infested with personal data, so if you published the data, and something happens, you’re liable. Some people don’t want to take that risk. This is another standard way of hiding from open data. Some organisations have developed organised risk assessments for open data – it create a more structured way to talk about risk. Continue reading Dealing with Open Data excuses →

Open Data Case Study: How Belfast found £350,000 in rates revenues using open FHRS data

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How do you prove the value of open data?

Here’s how.

 

The Food Standards Agency’s Food Hygiene Rating Schemes data is released as open data in near real-time, and the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland found a use for it.

Like every authority in the country, Belfast has a ratings shortfall – there are business rates that should be being collected, but aren’t for various reasons. And a bunch of smart people across various parts of the government and city council had a feeling that they could use datasets to improve the collection rate within the city.

Continue reading Open Data Case Study: How Belfast found £350,000 in rates revenues using open FHRS data →

Sustaining Senior Sponsorship

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If sponsorship is taken away – there must have been sponsorship before. So why does it go away? Understanding that might help.

 

Why we lose sponsorship

  • Short attention spans
  • Whitewashing, which they move on
  • People over-promising, and the results not matching that.

The enthusiasm needs to be sustainable.

Continue reading Sustaining Senior Sponsorship →

Evaluating open data: how do you prove the value?

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Open Data - proof of value

WARNING – liveblogging. Prone to error, inaccuracy and howling affronts to grammar and syntax. Posts will be improved over the next 48 hours

Google doc of this session

How do we evaluate the impact of open data – and prove its worth? A debate at Open Data Camp 3 dived deep into the issues – and came up with a few solutions.

Firstly, getting feedback on data sets seems to a real problem. It’s really hard to get feedback on data other than “that address is wrong”.

Sian from the Food Standards Agency would love to know what people are doing – and building – with their data. And it’s not just about proving commercial value, it’s also about persuading other departments and building the case for open data. Can we build up an armoury of cases to persuade people?

Continue reading Evaluating open data: how do you prove the value? →