For instance, the Ordnance Survey have been leading the way with opening up half of their data for others to use, complemented by their GeoVation programme which provides support and incentive for external innovators to develop new products and services.
More recently the Technology Strategy Board have been working with the likes of NERC, Met Office, Environment Agency and other public agencies to help solve business problems using environmental data.…
It goes without saying that data won’t leap up and create any value by itself any more than a pile of discarded parts outside a factory will assemble themselves into a car. We’ve found that the secret of successful open data innovation is to be with people working to solve some specific problem. Simply releasing the data is not enough. See below a summary of our Do’s and Don’ts of opening up data
Do…
More recently the Technology Strategy Board have been working with the likes of NERC, Met Office, Environment Agency and other public agencies to help solve business problems using environmental data.…
It goes without saying that data won’t leap up and create any value by itself any more than a pile of discarded parts outside a factory will assemble themselves into a car. We’ve found that the secret of successful open data innovation is to be with people working to solve some specific problem. Simply releasing the data is not enough. See below a summary of our Do’s and Don’ts of opening up data
Do…
- Make sure data quality is high (ODI Certificates can help!)
- Promote innovation using data sets. Transparency is only a means to an end
- Enhance communication with external innovators
- Make sure your co-creators are incentivised
- Get organised, create a community around an issue
- Pass on learnings to other similar organisations
- Experiement – open data requires new mindsets and business models
- Create safe spaces – Innovation Airlocks – to share and prototype with trusted partners
- Be brave – people may do things with the data that you don’t like
- Set out to create commercial or social value with data
Dont…
- Just release data and expect people to understand or create with it. Publication is not the same as communication
- Wait for data requests, put the data out first informally
- Avoid challenges to current income streams
- Go straight for the finished article, use rapid prototyping
- Be put off by the tensions between confidentiality, data protection and publishing
- Wait for the big budget or formal process but start big things with small amounts now
- Be technology led, be business led instead
- Expect the community to entirely self-manage
- Restrict open data to the IT literate – create interdisciplinary partnerships
- Get caught in the false dichotomy that is commercial vs. social
In summary we believe we need to assume openness as the default (for organisations that is, not individuals) and secrecy as the exception – the exact opposite to how most commercial organisations currently operate. …”