Open Data: What is it good for?
This past weekend, on March 3rd, we at Civic Data Alliance, along with Code for America brigades across the country, and data lovers over the world, celebrated Open Data Day.
A contingent of CDA Members worked with Louisville Metro’s Office of Performance Improvement and Innovation and DKAN to clean up data within Louisville’s Open Data Portal.
The majority of CDA Members, however, focused on a community-centric event to bring the knowledge of open data to the average Louisvillian. Members Bethany Patrick, Margeaux Spring, Eric Bickel, and Robert Kahne, with guest appearance by Eric’s co-conspirator at QuantityLou, Michael Weis, created a presentation around open data, the open data portal, and the importance/ethics of open data to share with our community. With such a focus on open data, I wanted to share a bit of why CDA believes open data is so vital.
“The power of data is not in the data itself, but in what it tells you.” — Eric Bickel
Open Data is imperative in our currently technological age. Not only can access to data create opportunity to support and grow our neighborhoods, communities, and cities, but it is an inextricable part of informing the very people it helps.
“Answer the whats first, and then answer the whys” — QuantifyLou
With open data, we can dig into the “why” of issues, instead of getting lost in the “what”. And it is the “why” that is most important. But first we have to get the “what” and that’s why open data is so important. If we can get the “what”, we can inform the “why”. The “why” then educates us, guides us, and, most importantly, drives us to find solutions.
There are multiple reasons why open data should be a priority for our administrations and elected officials. From discovering underserved populations and areas to holding branches of power accountable, open data is a valuable asset that should be embraced by our government on any level. As constituents, open data serves us as a way to be democratic in our choices about those we elect and give power.
“Open data leads to open government. It allows us to hold our administrations accountable to the people.” — Margeaux Spring
Open Government is a government that is of the people, for the people, by the people. We need open governments if we ever want to scale the walls of scarcity, inequality, and injustice within our communities. This can only be accomplished through access to information. Open data is that source of information that empowers us to combat these issues and create a brighter, better world for all people.
