Why Every Public Agency Needs an Open Data Strategy
Are we ready to make data a priority?
Regardless of whether your agency has 10 or 10,000 people, it’s a safe bet that you’re producing and storing data; it’s the one area where there is no deficit and no future likelihood of one. If we consider data as a valuable resource—which we should—then we’re all in a surplus position. That’s happy news for a sector so beset by negativity. That said, sadly, converting that surplus into value for the communities those agencies serve has not yet been broadly realized.
In short, governments are mostly sitting on an abundant resource, neglecting opportunities that could—if leveraged correctly—produce enormous benefit.
What is this government data that I’m talking about? On the federal site, Data.gov, there are almost 100,000 sets of data. These cover every type of subject one could imagine. For example, there is the visitor log for the White House; the register of all federal government contractors; and unemployment statistics. There’s data on energy, health, economics, manufacturing, and education. And these are only the data-sets that have been posted for easy consumption; there are many more that still need to be posted.
And this phenomenon is not restricted to the federal level. On the city and county data website for San Francisco, for example, there are local crime statistics, and the location of every movie made there since 1924. My own city, Palo Alto, posts a variety of data that includes details on all our trees—a most revered Palo Alto resource—and demographics. In addition, we recently posted five years of financial information, which is data that taxpayers care deeply about.
Realizing the Value
But what’s so novel about posting government data? Many will point out that we’ve been doing that since the first public Web sites arrived back in the 1990’s.
The current trend has a distinctive advantage to it. This data is being posted in a form that can be more easily used by Web and mobile application software. That means it’s more valuable, and this is no small point. It’s open data. If the data is freely available for software engineers, data scientists, and other interested stakeholders, then all manner of new solutions can be built. These solutions will provide useful tools like making it easier to find a parking space and thus help to reduce city congestion. They will make it easier to report civic issues and get them addressed in a timely manner. Applications will spring up that better help to inform government leaders and citizens alike. This data will help shine a light on deep issues such as poverty and environmental damage and in turn, help us to find solutions.
These solutions won’t get built by cash-strapped public agencies; rather, they will be created by the private sector, activists, residents,and in a variety of public-private partnerships. Already, citizens from across the nation are applying their skills to build useful applications such as apps for smartphones that have exceptional utility for communities. It’s a win-win: public agencies incur little or no cost, and the community receives the benefits.
We’re only at the very start of realizing the value of open data. One could easily imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when data is available to citizens at the moment of its creation. Not only does real-time publishing create unprecedented government transparency and accountability, it also makes the consuming applications vastly more useful.
Making It Happen
I’m often asked if open data is purely a product of Silicon Valley and its technically proficient community.
Absolutely not.
Believing that open data requires significant technical expertise could not be further from reality. The biggest hurdle to enabling open data is recognizing it as an important part of your agency’s future, and then acting on it. The focus should be on data value, not necessarily the volume of data-sets.
There are many vendors ready to help any size agency, and the costs can be low enough for most to afford. In fact, with some technical help—either from within your organization or by a willing volunteer in your community—there are open source solutions that can be deployed at negligible cost. Open source is not the solution for everyone, but it’s certainly an option.
Conclusion
I’ll concede that this is a complex space, and any discussion here can only be superficial. While the dialogue is underway in some niche circles, it’s time for a broader national movement. We have to get the open data topic on the table and start talking about—and acting upon—how we can make it work for our citizens.
Let there be no doubt: managing data and its value represent a new core competency for both private enterprises and public agencies, from now and into the foreseeable future. Those that recognize this and assign priority to an open data strategy will soon see benefits.
