[okfn-za] The marketing case for open government data

Thu May 23 09:52:52 UTC 2013

Without knowing exactly what kind of data you mean, Nimi, I may be 
missing the point entirely. But FWIW.

The World Bank publishes a lot of data that I would call unsexy, and yet 
lots of developers use it for their own purposes, and even make it sexy 
after the fact. The World Bank Data About page emphasises their social 
mission: "The World Bank recognizes that transparency and accountability 
are essential to the development process and central to achieving the 
Bank’s mission to alleviate poverty." The rest of that page my help, 
too: http://data.worldbank.org/about

Your marketing case so far seems strong, but it appeals only to their 
logical institutional needs.

You're asking them to buy something (with their time and energy). Every 
buying decision is first and foremost an emotional decision, and the 
logical part only matters if the buyer needs a way to justify their 
decision afterwards (perhaps to know they've covered their asses).

So, depending on the individuals you have to pitch to, you may find the 
social-impact, emotion-driven case gets you further. The 'it's the right 
thing to do', 'save the world' approach. If they personally join that 
mission, they'll feel better about themselves. It appeals to their egos. 
Your own enthusiasm for this world-changing mission may be infectious, too.

My 2c.

Arthur

On 2013/05/23 11:18 AM, Nimi Hoffmann wrote:
> Thanks Michelle. I particularly liked the link in theodi to this 
> presentation on the business model for open data:
>
> http://www.slideshare.net/hverwayen/business-model-innovation-open-data
>
> The problem is that this business case is for a cultural product. But 
> my organisation is not involved in cultural projects. So there are no 
> platforms like Flikr on which to share its data.
>
> Suppose you have an organisation that was going to share unsexy data - 
> i.e. data that doesn't have a strong internet presence/institutional 
> framework. Are there any sites that would celebrate this and help 
> spread the message?
>
> Cheers,
> Nimi