Jason Hare's Data Management Blog

In May of this year, Asian and European countries met for the regional Open Government Partnership summits to once again discuss transparency and open government. In light of the session tracks that were presented I am evaluating some of the technologies of the past and how there has been a welcome and fundamental shift from Open Government and Open Data being ambiguously linked toward the separation of the two in more current thinking and in technology approaches. Most notably, the deprecation of Microsoft's Open Government Data Initiative platform is a positive sign of the times that the government community is becoming aware of the danger of open government and open data linking. Harlan Yu and David G. Robinson discussed the OGP in "The New Ambiguity of Open Government" (Princeton CITP/Yale ISP Working Paper).   "The Open Government Declaration is broad approach toward 'openness,' as signatories commit to 'seeking ...

By Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D., Balefire Global, dmcdonald@balefireglobal.com Introduction In Management Needs Data Literacy to Run Open Data Programs I addressed the question of how much “data literacy” open data program managers need. I outlined a series of topics corresponding to different parts of the data management lifecycle the program managers need to be familiar with. While certainly I don't believe it is necessary for all program managers to be “data scientists” to manage open data programs effectively, I do think that there are certain data related skills that managers do need. One of the most important is the ability to think about data both from analytical as well as structural perspectives. The analytical perspective Analytically, managers need to understand that useful data are not just random collections of numbers but represent patterns and trends that can be used to tell stories about the objects or events with which the numbers are associated. The range of tools ...

In response to "The Potential of Open Data" published by Deirdre Lee, at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway (www.insight-centre.org), I offer my opinion on the health of the government's open data efforts to date. Ireland needs to take a page from Sir Francis Maude and not the US. The US open data initiative is an embarrassment. Embrace "Data is the 21st century’s new raw material." The Beginning of Open Data in Ireland To be fair, Ireland is just beginning the road to open data after an internal struggle stretching back five years. The Irish Minister of Reform, Brendan Howlin, has also wisely eliminated FOI fees for information requests. This FOI issue has long been a point of political divisiveness in Ireland. Indeed at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Dublin this past year, I witnessed street demonstrations against FOI. Government creates an Open Data Initiative In late January, a tender was issued by the CIO of Ireland, William...

  In the Beginning In response to " The Potential of Open Data " published by Deirdre Lee, at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics, NUI Galway ( www.insight-centre.org ), I offer my opinion on the health of the government's open data efforts to date. Ireland needs to take a page from Sir Francis Maude and not the US. The US open data initiative is an embarrassment. Embrace "Data is the 21st century’s new raw material." The Beginning of Open Data in Ireland To be fair, Ireland is just beginning the road to open data after an internal struggle stretching back five years. The Irish Minister of Reform, Brendan Howlin, has also wisely eliminated FOI fees for information requests. This FOI issue has long been a point of political divisiveness in Ireland. Indeed at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Dublin this past year I witnessed street demonstrations against FOI. Government creates an Open Data Initiative In late January, a tender was issued by the CIO of I...

By Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D., Balefire Global, dmcdonald@balefireglobal.com It makes sense that, if you devote time and energy to designing, ramping up, and managing an open data program, you're doing so for a reason. In What does the term “program alignment” mean when applied to open data programs? I made the assumption that you will want to align your open data program with the sponsoring organization’s goals and objectives and then measure the open data program’s performance by whether or not these goals and objectives are supported. I did mention a caveat: you can't always predict how the data provided through your open data program are used, what all the uses of your data and up being, who the users are, and what the benefits of these uses might be, given your lack of control over how your data might be re-used and re-shared. If this is so, how concerned should you be about the secondary and tertiary uses made of your program’s open data? Perhaps the data you’re distribu...

  Guest Blog By Dr. Dennis McDonald, BaleFire Global. “Program alignment” has long been a meat-and-potatoes term for consultants involved with strategic planning. The basic idea is that the initiatives you plan and carry out to support your organization's goals and objective need to be “aligned” (i.e., supportive of or in line with) your organization’s goals and objectives. What does "alignment" mean in practice? How do you measure whether or not your activities are aligned with your goals and objectives? And what does this mean when the concept is applied to open data programs? Here are some of the things to look for including a caveat about applying this term too loosely to open data programs. The basic conditions for determining whether any initiative (for example, a program, a project, a purchase, a reorganization, a new product, a new hiring initiative, etc.) is aligned with your organization’s goals and objectives are the following: 1. You know what your organizatio...

  ABRE LATAM CONDATOS | 2014 ConDatos is the most important regional event on open data in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, Mexico City will be hosting academics, governments, business and civil society organizations so they can interact in discussions, roundtables and workshops to enrich the debate of open data on different topics. The Regional Conference for Open Data in Latin America and the Caribbean was held for the first time in 2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay bringing together the most relevant actors in the region to share experiences, knowledge and expose the issues and initiatives that exist in the open data world. We resume this conversation to further strengthen these efforts in an innovative and collaborative manner. ConDatos will be held in Mexico City the 2 and 3 of October in the Library of Mexico known as the Ciudadela, the City of Books and Images, a cultural center that promotes modernization, innovation and the use of new technologies. CALL FOR ASSISTANCE...