Open Data in Lebanon - Hype, Hope, or Reality?
Over the past decade, there has been a considerable trend towards greater openness and transparency with meaningful information concerning the public. The digital world is changing society by enabling phenomenal efficiency in our interaction with networks and markets. According to Halkort( 2018), Open Data is defined as structured data that is machine-readable, freely shared, used and built on without restrictions; Open data can play a central role in this transformation, in particular helping to create new markets for economic, social, cultural and political activity.
Open Data is free data that is available to the public without restrictions and, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, it has the potential to unlock as much as $3 trillion USD in additional value annually by delivering better industry insights and targeted client services.
According to Halkort(2018), open data gives several promises such as: Increasing Transparency and Accountability, members of the public can stay connected, informed, and up to date with the day-to-day operations of their local government in order to gain or lose trust.
. Developing Trust, Credibility and Reputation (Halkort,2018), This sort of openness and vulnerability is comparable to sharing aspects of your personal life with another person; There is a considerable amount of trust and respect that comes with an open and honest conversation .
Encouraging Public Education and Community Engagement (Halkort,2018), it is a way for access to meaningful data aids in unifying a community and empowering them to help shape the direction for the future.
Promoting Progress and Innovation(Halkort,2018), Open data provides new opportunities for commercial applications, improves time-to-market for businesses, and can form the foundation for new technological innovation and economic growth .
Lebanon has always been known as a democratic country. According to the Global Open Data Index, it ranks at number 98.
Political side of open data in Lebanon
With elections upcoming this year in May in Lebanon, lawmakers are bearing in mind recommendations to improve the election law. Current debate on reform is based on assertions that are politically motivated and not backed up by data. The Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) and Lamba Labs launched a data platform to provide open election data to facilitate evidence-based discussions on election reform as well as empower civil society to effectively engage in the process as seen below and it can be downloaded! :
Until present, data has not been used to inform discussions on electoral reform. Lebanon has not conducted a census in eight decades and there exists a dearth of credible information on present-day ethnic composition, religious affiliations, or gender breakdown. LADE and Lamba Labs, a local hacker space in Beirut, launched the Lebanese Elections Data Platform to provide data and trends on voter registration and participation by ethnicity, religion and gender.
Women form the majority of the electorate, but less than 2% of Parliament. Visualizations ignite debate and advance understanding of developing policies and platforms that increase participation by women voters.
The map shows the countries that registered expatriate Lebanese voters reside in, alongside their gender, and confession. Green indicates the registered voters among expatriates in a specific district.
The economical side of open data in Lebanon
Lebanon, as we can see in the screenshot below, lacks accurate addresses, postal and zip codes,and reliable maps. “we don’t have a complete reliable postal system in the country.” (Review Universe, 2016).
The government’s national map data lacks markings of a number of national (roads, rivers, lakes,…) and it is not updated regularly (Open Index Data, 2015). Some consumers such as researchers, sponsors, postal organizations, emigrants,… may face difficulties when they try to reach the Lebanese audience which also sheds the light on the local Lebanese citizens that use GPS or Google maps to reach certain destinations.
Lebanese maps and location data require an appropriate face lift to attain accuracy, upgrading, and accessibility for both consumers and experts. Public data can add tremendous value to existing businesses but also opens up new business opportunities (Kitchin, p.55, 2014) .According to Kitchin (p.57,2014), possible benefits could be the growth of GPS-driven industries, improved end-user experiences, and development of location-specific market knowledge , which in turn would also benefit the country in generating new jobs, receiving more funds and transform.
open government data in Lebanon: a blessing and a curse.
Government data is a key resource for social and commercial activities. Everything from finding your local post office to building a search engine requires access to data, much of which is created or held by government. By opening up data, government can help drive the creation of innovative business and services that deliver social and commercial value(Kitchin, p.68, 2014).For instance, to build up the web and 3G benefit, in the assistance of the correspondence service and the Alfa and MTC touch private associations, they can cooperate to offer Lebanon better administrations. Each one of these cases use open government information.
However simply wanting data to be open does not by itself make it of any practical use to the public.When released in its base or raw form, data is not open to the public in any meaningful sense. It is only open to a small group of technical specialists who know how to interpret and use it, as well as to those that can afford to employ them. Providing open data uncritically in this way is therefore likely only to further advantage already privileged groups.
data and ethics
Open government data must be complete, primary, timely, easily accessible, machine-readable, non-discriminating, available under explicitly stated terms of use which allows its reuse with minimal restrictions, permanent, and available to the potential users for minimal possible costs (Kitchin, p. 51–52, 2014). According to Kitchin (p.8, 2014)With large amounts of data comes great risks including privacy infringement and misinterpretation of the data. “Primary numerical data is neutral until it is put in a measurable or comparable context” (Kitchin, p.8, 2014)
Assuming that the act of opening up government data will magically lead to its better use by those who need it most is naïve (Kitchin, p. 62, 2014). The invisible hand of data must not be blindly trusted.
to wrap up,The only sustainable basis for delivering public benefit from public data is to motivate and enable communities themselves to innovate local service provision, social enterprise and job creation.
sources:
Halkort, M. , 2018. Lectures 11.1 ,11.2, and 12.
Global Open Data Index. (2015). Lebanon [Data file]. Retrieved from http://index.okfn.org/place/lebanon/
McKinsey Global Institute, Open data: Unlocking innovation and performance with liquid information, 2013. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/open-data-unlocking-innovation-and-performance-with-liquid-information
Kitchin, R. (2014) ‘Open and Linked Data’ in The Data Revolution, Sage, Delhi, London, New York. p. 55; https://www.europeandataportal.eu/en/using-data/benefits-of-open-data
Tabbarah, R. (2017, Jan. 24). The appalling state of statistics in lebanon. The daily star. Retrieved from http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2017/Jan-24/390678-the-appalling-state-of-statistics-in-lebanon.ashx
