[open-government] Fwd: Open Data Initiatives: Some Important Concerns

Fri Nov 15 18:53:46 UTC 2013

See:
http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/2013/11/four-critiques-of-open-data-initiatives/
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "cingib" <cingib at gmail.com>
Date: Nov 15, 2013 10:23 AM
Subject: Open Data Initiatives: Some Important Concerns
To: "Cindy Gibson" <cingib at gmail.com>
Cc:

*An open data practitioner and advocate raises some questions that are
important to consider with  these initiatives:*

FOUR CRITIQUES OF OPEN DATA INITIATIVES

by Rob Kitchin

I’ve been a long time supporter of open data and providing analytic tools
to citizens to enable evidence-informed participation in public debate.
Since 2006, when it was initially established as the Cross-Border Regional
Research Observatory, I have been PI on the *All-Island Research
Observatory* (www.airo.ie<http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/2013/11/four-critiques-of-open-data-initiatives/www.airo.ie>),
a project that provides access to various government datasets in the
Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Europe, along with interactive
mapping and graphing tools.  The core project team of Justin Gleeson, Aoife
Dowling and Eoghan McCarthy have worked hard to leverage datasets out of
various agencies and negotiate more favourable licensing terms, add value
and insight to these datasets, promote data journalism through
collaboration with the *Irish Times* and *Irish Examiner*, and provide open
access to a couple of thousand datasets through the AIRO
datastore<http://www.airo.ie/airo-datastore>
.

The arguments concerning the benefits of open data are now reasonably well
established and include contentions that open data lead to increased
transparency and accountability with respect to public bodies and services;
increases the efficiency and productivity of agencies and enhances their
governance; promotes public participation in decision making and social
innovation; and fosters economic innovation and job and wealth creation
(Pollock 2006; Huijboom and Van der Broek 2011; Janssen 2012; Yiu 2012).

What is less well examined are the potential problems affecting, and
negative consequences of, open data initiatives.  Consequently, as a
provocation for Wednesday’s (Nov 13th, 4-6pm) *Programmable City* open data
event<http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/2013/10/open-data-and-evidence-informed-decision-making/>I
thought it might be useful to outline four critiques of open data,
each
of which deserves and demands critical attention: open data lacks a
sustainable financial model; promotes a politics of the benign and empowers
the empowered; lacks utility and usability; and facilitates the
neoliberalisation and marketisation of public services.  These critiques do
not suggest abandoning the move towards opening data, but contend that open
data initiatives need to be much more mindful of what data are being made
open, how data are made available, how they are being used, and how they
are being funded.

ARTICLE:

http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/2013/11/four-critiques-of-open-data-initiatives/

-- 

*Cynthia M. Gibsoncingib at gmail.com <cingib at yahoo.com>212.982.5772
<212.982.5772> 917.902.1551 <917.902.1551> (cell)Twitter:  @cingib *
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