Open data for development

United Nations Development Programme

Open Data

Marc LepageKnowledge & Innovation advisor,UNDP regional center for Africa

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Agenda

• What is open data?• Benefits of open data• Open data for …

–Government–Aid efficiency–Development–Crisis information management

• Challenges• What next?

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definition

open data is “data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone – subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and sharealike”.

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Open data is..

•data freely available

Open

•data easy to use and re-use

Accessible

•data easy to find

Searchable

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Open data formats• 1 star: Available on the web (whatever

format) but with an open licence, to be Open Data

• 2 stars: Available as machine-readable structured data (e.g. excel instead of image scan of a table)

• 3 stars: as (2) plus non-proprietary format (e.g. CSV instead of excel)

• 4 stars: All the above plus, Use open standards from W3C (RDF and SPARQL) to identify things, so that people can point at your stuff

• 5 stars: All the above, plus: Link your data to other people’s data to provide context

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Benefits of open data

• Part of a broader move, including new Access to Information Policy

• Builds on global Open Data initiatives• Aim is to stimulate use of development data to

help solve development problems:

–economic benefits (growth and job creation),

–improved public services and –more transparent and accountable government

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What it (typically) looks like

Before… After…

Subscriptions Free!

Custom query tool

New website, downloads, API

Restrictions on use Minimal restrictions on use

English +Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese

Not searchable Searchable

Scattered datasets Data catalog

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Common terms of use

• Users are encouraged to use the data.

–extract, download, and make copies

–Share with third parties. • Attribution • No Endorsement• No Association• No Warranties

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Open data value chain

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Open data variations

There are several flavors of open data, for instance open government data helps to make data held by governments accessible to both applications and end-users.

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Open data for Government

Major examples of open government data include transport data (which has given cities like New York applications to show fastest routes on any day etc) and finance data (giving citizens visibility into how their money is spent).

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Open data for Government (con’t)

1. Government should do the least possible and act as a

Facilitator – Build a platform and let others add to it

2. Engage entrepreneurs in developing applications using

government data through workshops and forums

3. Develop Application Programme Interface (API) to support

web developers for your data

4. When more people are working on the data, innovation

happens

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Citizen Government dynamics

1. Citizens are becoming data producers as well as data

consumers.

2. Citizens are changing the political landscape by being more

involved in the decision making process

3. Citizens are engaging other citizens to act through social

networking tools

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Example: Kenya https://opendata.go.ke

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Poverty rate by district in Kenya

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Open data for development

• A client government wants to download and use HDR data into internal systems

–In real time

–Inexpensively

–Without significant human overheads

• An NGO in Botswana wants to follow UNDP’s project portfolio in democratic governance

• A researcher wants to combine UNDP’s HRD data with data from a country’s planning commission to analyze trends

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Open data for development (con’t)

• A blogger wants to substantiate the opinion in her blog with data based charts (that update in real time) from the UNDP’s project database

• A UNDP staff member answers questions about UNDPs commitment to transparency

• An independent application developer in Georgia wants to create a mobile application that tracks the flow of donor money to monitor election and help local civil society access the grants (case study here)

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Open Data @ USAID

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Open Data @ World Bank

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Open data @ UNDP

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IATI & UNDP: promotes efficiency and re-use: Worst of all Worlds

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IATI and UNDP: Promotes efficiency and re-use: Publish once, use often

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How open data is used for dev

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High frequency price data

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Open Data for crisis information management

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Syria

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The open data revolution

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Haïti

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Haiti open data portal

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Humanitarian eXchange Language

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Humanitarian dataset

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Open data challenges

Lack of overall strategy

The “Top Down” approach / culture

Cultural barriers

Legislation gap

Context gap

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What does it take to get started?

• Suggested approach: pilot under 3 criteria

–Low cost (under $1000/month)–Fast–Low effort

• 2 options:

a) custom development, piggybacking on the HDR’s API

b) open data platform

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Suggested approach

• Start with one data set we feel comfortable with

• Test with stakeholders• Confirm features/functions/scalability• Learn from the experience• Identify more potential data sets• Continue evaluating other options

(custom/platform)• Get ready for a larger launch

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Scope of the pilot

• The pilot will only include one data set• (If needed) the pilot will include some basic design work

required to make the pilot site attractive and user-friendly• The pilot can be live within a week of final approval to

proceed• The pilot should ideally run for no more than 2-3 months

• One of the goals of the pilot will be to understand what additional features/tools must be bundled with the service to maximize the value of the service to clients

• The pilot will also help the team understand the technical parameters required to fully launch the service

• The pilot will also consider what communication/community approaches will be most effective during the larger launch

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Outcomes of the pilot

• OUTCOMES

– Establish the governance processes and structures to support the larger launch

– Resolve security, legal, data confidentiality, and other issues before the larger launch

– Gain client/other stakeholder buy-in for the service

– Establish the full bouquet of services that should be bundled with the final product

– Work through a variety of ‘what’s in it for me’ client scenarios

– Select a platform for the final launch

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Pilot approach – open data as the basis for services

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Open Data

UNDP application

s

Mobile application

s

3rd party applications

Manual upload

Publish API

Community Visualization

Analytics Filters/roll-ups

UNDP

DATA

Downloads

GIS

API

User interface

In scope (pilot)

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Potential issues/next steps

ISSUES STEPS

Who is going to take the lead? KIC group to assist & offer for pilot

What data can be included in this service (immediately, and in the long term)

KIC group to consult internally

What impact will the initiative have on our client relationships? Are there any pre-launch steps we need to take

This will depend on the data sets we start with

Can all open data services at UNDP be consolidated through the API that is being developed for HDR?

HRD team and KIC group to consult

What security clearances are required to launch this service Depends on the data set identified. Could be none. Double check with legal dept

Who should manage the service? Which parts of UNDP should be involved

KIC group

What data management steps do we need to take to support the data requirements of the initiative (catalog, metadata, quality, more)

Pilot will clarify

Are there disclosure/copyright issues we should take into account? Depending on data sets. Consult with legal

What about the quality of our data? Pilot will shed light into the possibility of feedback channel to get quality control from users

Is there a resource constraint in terms of dealing with queries once the data is released?

Use the pilot to get insights

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This is just the beginning…….

Availability of data Accessibility Use of data Engage /

change

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THANK YOU! (open) Questions?

[email protected]@marclepage

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Sources

• http://www.od4d.org• http://openforchange.info• http://www.slideshare.net/yajitha• Open data group on Teamworks• Mark Cardwell, open data evangelist at UNDP• Giuilio Quaggiotto, all things innovation at UNDP