Three Things about Open Data Programs That Make Them Special
By Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D., Balefire Global, dmcdonald@balefireglobal.com During the brainstorming session at the inaugural meeting of the Open Data Enthusiasts meet up last week in Washington DC, attendee David Luria commented that we need to do a better job of understanding, defining, and communicating the objectives of open data programs if we want them to be successful. I couldn't agree more. Program objectives need to be clearly defined and shared with stakeholders and program participants so that everyone is marching in the same direction. If we don't understand and agree on our objectives how can we establish requirements and metrics to measure what we're trying to accomplish? Admittedly the above principle is straight out of Project Management 101 and describes the initial steps you need to take in planning and documenting any project, not just those involving open data. Still, what I have noticed after involvement with many data related projects is that there a