Apr
23
2010
Why I am now an unofficial open data evangelist
In March 2010, the Canadian federal government informally launched an open data initiative similar to the US Data.gov (the announcement was so informal it was only on Twitter as far as I can tell). The goal of open data initiatives is to release government data to the public in ways people can use it to do useful things online. And that’s exactly what they do.
I learned of a great example of the kind of thing that makes me an open data advocate at a recent government open data presentation. It came in a video the presenter played of a talk by internet founder, Tim Berners-Lee at the 2010 TED Conference. TED is an annual week-long meeting of people with big brains sharing amazing ideas that, until recently, was private but is now made available online. Berners-Lee’s talk was a follow up this his 2009 talk where he encouraged the crowd to go do great things with open data. Clearly he inspired more than just the people in the room.
He gave an example of a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio who made a map combining data about which houses had city-supplied water with data about which house residents were black or white. Here’s what he got:
A judge saw this and awarded the black residents $10.9 million in damages. Open data: 1; Zanesville town council: minus 10.9 million.
Now, you can see why examples like this might make governments reluctant to fully embrace open data. But there are other examples that should do otherwise such as these out of Vancouver:
- Vantrash which sends emails or tweets to Vancouverites reminding them of their upcoming garbage day
- Amazon Vancouver Public Library Linky that tells Amazon users if the book they searched for on Amazon is available at the Vancouver public library.
(The City of Ottawa is also embracing open data.)
The federal government has lots and lots of data and the possibilities of what people can do with it are endless. So this post is a call to action for one and all to go boldly where more and more people have gone before and tell your governments: Let my data go!
If you have a good open data story or a suggestion for an open data app please leave a comment!
Tags: Open Data
