The new year of 2018 began with the UNSD meeting on national reporting platforms, which had a strong element of open data. Towards the end of the quarter, Open Data Watch updated the Open Data Inventory (ODIN) and disseminated the ODIN 2017 annual report. A new year is always a good time to take stock of the progress (and lack of progress) that has been made in open data and continue to push forward towards a more open future. The meeting of the UN Statistical Commission and the Data for Development Festival in Bristol, UK finished off this quarter on a high note as open data was prominently featured in both meetings. Below is a look at the reports, blogs, and articles on open data, gender data, and other significant developments in the data revolution from January to March. If there is something else to add, please contact us.
January
Open Data Watch (ODW) – Our Story in 2017 (1/1)
Open Data Watch reviews their activities and projects from 2017. The intersection of open data and official statistics remains the core focus of ODW in 2017. ODIN continues to be their flagship product, but ODW has also been active in researching gender data availability and gaps, building partnerships, and providing technical advice to strengthen statistical systems. (source)
Personal data of a billion Indians sold online for £6, report claims (1/4)
An article from The Guardian that reports on the privacy dangers for India’s biometric database. Reporters found that they could purchase access codes for the database for £6. (source)
The Challenges of Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: Evidence from the GrOW Program (1/5)
A report from McGill University that finds programs and policies aimed at improving women’s well-being globally will benefit from careful attention to defining and measuring women’s economic empowerment, and need to balance the trade-off between instrument specificity and generalizability. (source)
Omidyar Network Constituent Voices: Trust and Privacy (1/10)
The Omidyar Network reports on a global survey of 60,000 individuals’ perspectives on whom they trust – government or private companies – with their personal data. In the Omidyar Network’s first issue, Constituent Voices: Trust and Privacy, the findings from the global survey are presented, showing how pervasive the lack of trust is for individuals who have to share their personal data with either governments or companies. (source)
How open data can save AI (1/11)
Craig Fagan and Juan Ortiz Freuler from the Web Foundation report on how open data can provide the large datasets that AI algorithms need. They also report on the possible privacy issues and best practices for transparency in open data and AI. (source)
Paris21 Workshop on new approaches to statistical capacity development (1/12)
A report from the Paris21 Workshop on Statistical Capacity Development 4.0 workshop that contains the background research papers and other relevant workshop materials. (source)
Africa must keep its rich, valuable data safe from exploitation (1/16)
An article on the opportunities for the data being collected in Africa and the potential privacy and ownership issues that the continent faces. One of the challenges mentioned is that if data from Africa is made open and shared, there are concerns that non-African research partners will take the data and use it for analysis and publication elsewhere, leaving African scholars behind. (source)
We need a new era of data responsibility (1/21)
Ginni Romett, President and Chief Executive Officer of the IBM Corporation, reports on the value of personal data and the best practices for corporations to respect the right to privacy. The value of this personal data could reach 1 trillion euros by 2020. (source)
Can Open Data Feed the World? (1/24)
Jaime Adams at U.S. Department of Agriculture explores the role of open data technology and if this can help feed the whole world. (source)
Building Trust in Data and Statistics (1/25)
A blog post from the ODW managing director, Shaida Badiee, on how to build trust in data and statistics. Most important are: Building strong organizational infrastructure, governance, and partnerships;
following sound data standards and principles for production, sharing, interoperability, and dissemination; and addressing the last mile in the data value chain to meet users’ needs, create value with data, and ensure meaningful impacts. (source)
Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015: a geocoded inventory and spatial analysis (1/25)
An article from the Lancet Global Health journal on how researchers measured access to emergency hospital care in Sub-Saharan Africa. No Pan-African database of hospital locations existed, so researchers used Open Street Map and other tools to create the database of emergency hospitals for the study. (source)
Some Translation Required (1/28)
A blog post from Anna Fisher-Pinkert on how decision makers use data. Her personal experience and research find that the human story in all those numbers might be the best way to bridge the gap between research and policy and get decision makers to correctly use data for decisions. (source)
Publishing with Purpose (1/29)
Ania Calderon from the Open Data Charter reports on her organization’s new strategy from 2018. The new strategy focuses on not just opening any kind of data, but publishing and opening data sets that help solve important policy issues. (source)
Embrace Data and Big Thinking to Meet Gender SDGs – Equal Measures 2030 (1/29)
Alison Holder, Director of Equal Measures 2030, states that to make real progress on women’s economic advancement in developing countries, we need better data and systems-level thinking. She spoke with Women’s Advancement Deeply about what she’s watching in 2018. (source)
February
Gender equality and big data: Making gender data visible (Feb)
This report from the UN Women Innovation Facility outlines the value of big data for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to women. The report presents the benefits of big data, risks, and policy implications. (source)
Beyond numbers: Why cultural change has to accompany our renewed investment in data (Feb)
Chris Earney, the head of Innovation Service at UNHCR, writes about the best practices to create a data driven culture in an organization. His essay outlines 7 steps that organizations can take to change their data culture. (source)
Legal Barriers to Open Data Sharing (2/1)
The recently published study on legal barriers to open data sharing – Data Protection and PSI takes a closer look at legal barriers to data sharing within the context of the European Commission’s Open Research Data Pilot in Horizon 2020. The study investigates two legal issues for the implementation of the Pilot, i.e., data protection law and public sector information (PSI). (source)
What have we learned about building a culture of data and evidence use in government? (2/5)
J-PAL reports on the lessons learned from in-depth interviews with stakeholders from eleven of their government partnerships in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru on using data for policy making. They outline the 5 lessons learned from their interviews. (source)
Lessons from city pioneers on opening up data (2/5)
OpenNorth and the Open Data Charter report on their research to understand the opportunities and challenges that cities face when opening up data. For the cities included in their research, open data has been integrated into their strategy, but it still lacks sufficient human and financial resources to result in meaningful social impact. The report includes recommendations for officials for what they can do next. (source)
The UN Just Released the Most Comprehensive Report on Gender Equality Around the World (2/14)
Joanne Lu from the UN Dispatch reviews a recent UN report on the SDGs and gender equality. Using the most recently available data, the report looks at how gender equality – an SDG in its own right – intersects with all the other goals SDGs. (source)
Relaunch: Open Data Goldbook for Data Managers and Data Holders (2/15)
The European Data Portal has updated its Open Data Goldbook for Data Managers and Data Holders to answer all your open data questions: How to build an Open Data strategy? How to implement an Open Data initiative? What is needed to put in place an Open Data lifecycle? How to ensure and monitor Open Data success? (source)
Virginia May Be the Next to Hire a CDO (2/16)
An article on the bill known as the Virginia Open Data Initiative Act, that would have the state hire a CDO to “oversee the establishment of procedures, standards, and best practices regarding the appropriate access and presentation of open data and datasets by each agency.” If Virginia executes this bill as written, the state would be one of nine states to have hired CDOs. (source)
The Entrepreneurial Impact of Open Data (2/18)
Sheena Iyengar and Patrick Bergemann at Opening Governance Research Network report on the first ever census of companies that use open data. The Governance Lab (GovLab) at NYU Tandon School of Engineering conducted the census to understand how open data is being used to spur innovation and create value. (source)
12 Top Tips: How governments can do digital (2/22)
A series of tips on how can governments use digital technology to improve services and outcomes? To help governments on this journey, the Centre for Public Impact presents 12 tips from leaders around the world. (source)
Nine keys to creating an SDG Country Platform in Indonesia (2/22)
Francine Pickup, from UNDP Indonesia, reports on the guiding principles that are being used in Indonesia to create the country’s SDG reporting platform. (source)
March
The gender gap in employment: What’s holding women back? (3/1)
The International Labour Organization has developed an info story about women’s employment. Around the world, finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men. When women are employed, they tend to work in low-quality jobs in vulnerable conditions, and there is little improvement forecast in the near future. (source)
Publishing with Purpose: Introducing our 2018 strategy (3/2)
The Open Data Charter (ODC) team reviews their principles in an effort to increase the impact of open data. ODC has identified four key points that they believe will most benefit from attention during reviews over the months to come. (source)
UNSC Report on Open Data from the 49th session (3/6)
This UNSC report details work undertaken on open data for the Sustainable Development Goals, including the outcomes of the international seminar on open data for the Sustainable Development Goals, held in the Republic of Korea in September 2017, and a review of country initiatives on open data platforms. (source)
What data do decision makers really use, and why? (3/7)
AidData set out in 2017 to identify what data decision makers in low and middle-income countries use, whose data they use, why they use it, and which data are most helpful. This blog post from the World Bank reports bank on their findings from survey decision makers. (source)
Invisible No More? Report and Country Case Studies on Time Use and Unpaid Work (3/8)
Data2X’s new report, Invisible No More? A Methodology and Policy Review of How Time Use Surveys Measure Unpaid Work, reviews recent efforts using time use surveys, the preferred instrument for measuring unpaid work, to identify good practices for designing comparable, simple measures of unpaid household and care work and using this data for policy making. (source)
Gender data reveals trends and gaps in global research and knowledge (3/8)
Building on the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications’ (INASP) recent work in gender in higher education and to strengthen knowledge of the global landscape for women, INSP commissioned a desk study of available data related to gender equality in higher education and research, digital literacy, research communications and publishing, and public policy. Jenny Birchall shares some of the themes that emerged from the research. (source)
Empowering Rural Women and Girls Through Data (3/16)
Eleanor Carey, from the UN Foundation, reports on the focus of this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW): rural women and girls – and what is needed to ensure their progress. She outlines the importance of using data to improve the lives of women and girls in rural areas. (source)
SD Talks Special Series on Data for Sustainable Development – Big Data and the global gender gap: the promises and perils of digital information (3/20)
Representatives from Data2x present a webinar on how data on women and girls can be leveraged to promote gender equality, alleviate poverty, and advance development progress. Organized by the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development in partnership with the Data-Pop Alliance, this SD Talks also presents the risks of gender data use, and its implications for girls’ and women’s lives and realities. (source)
On the Money: Getting Funding for Data Right (3/22)
Josh Powell of development gateway provides his analysis of whether or not there are sufficient (and sufficiently well-targeted) resources available to realize the potential of data for development. There is a gap in funding for data and efforts to close this financial gap are critical, but, in order to make the best use of existing funds, he asks three simple questions about data funding: What money? What data? What purpose? (source)
What does the Cambridge Analytica scandal mean for access to data? (3/22)
Jeni Tennison from the Open Data Institute shares five takeaways on the implications for access to data for researchers after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal with Facebook. The key, Jeni writes, is to put in place proportional controls and data governance so that we can benefit from our decisions being informed by data while being protected from its harmful impacts. (source)
Making the Case: More and Better Financing for Data (3/22)
This brief by Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) and Open Data Watch highlights the current state of financing for statistics, identifies funding gaps, and argues not just for more but better financing for data. (source)
The Data Value Chain: Moving from Production to Impact (3/24)
A report by Open Data Watch for Data2x on the data value chain describes the evolution of data from collection to analysis, dissemination, and the final impact of data on decision making. While the value chain can be applied to all types of data, we hope it will be particularly useful for a better understanding of the gaps in gender data. (source)
CSW62: Ensuring SDG-related Data Reflects Lived Realities of Rural Women (3/24)
Sarah Ajaoud from Equal Measures 2030 reports on this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and progress from the Equal Measures 2030 global partnership. (source)
Here’s Why an Accurate Census Count Is So Important (3/27)
The New York Times reports on the importance of an accurate census for placing congressional seats, distributing government funding, and other critical government tasks. This is in response to the addition of a question on citizenship that the Trump administration is adding to the census that some fear will hinder an accurate census count. (source)
How people feel about what companies do with their data is just as important as what they know about it (3/29)
The recent revelation that Cambridge Analytica was able to acquire the Facebook data of 50 million people has led to a surge of interest and questions around what companies do with people’s data. Amidst all of this, little attention has been paid to the feelings of those whose data are used, shared, and acted upon. According to Helen Kennedy from the University of Sheffield, more qualitative understanding of how different people experience, negotiate, trust, distrust, or resist big data and data mining is required. (source)