Open Data: A shift from Big Data to Big Insight

Rapid changes in technology have led to many unexpected changes in our world.  2011 was a year where technology gave a voice to traditionally suppressed people.  Social tools like Twitter and Facebook have provided tools that let people to communicate and organize in ways previously unthinkable.  Social tools were behind the ‘Arab Spring’ uprisings, and protests in Russia and China.  They also enabled the organization of movements like the  ‘occupy’ protests that swept the US in 2011.

Open Data is data which can be freely used and republished, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other type of control.  The term ‘open data’ is particularly used in reference to the publishing of  data by governments which they have collected.  The government Open Data movement has been gaining momentum and has been particularly strong in the UK, and to a lesser extent in the US.  A report by Deloitte considers the implication of Open Data and governments.

The Deloitte report says that “The relationship between government, business and citizen is undergoing a fundamental change.  In these times of continuing austerity, government leaders understand that opening up access to data can lead to greater public sector efficiency, transparency and accountability. But this is just the beginning.”  Open data can potentially “deliver powerful, value-adding isights that benefit citizens, business, public bodies and wider communities alike.”

Costi Perricos, public sector analytics leader at Deloitte said that “there is tremendous potential for using mashups, crowdsourcing and other techniques to transform data into meaningful knowledge – the sort of ‘big insights’ that will help to unlock growth. This is something that we, as citizens, government managers, legislators, business owners and other stakeholders, should fully embrace as a positive change.”

The Deloitte report identified four main categories where the use of Open Data by governments will provide benefits:

• Openness – Open Data provides greater transparency in its operations and increases accountability to citizens.
• Innovation – With Open Data, it is not only the government, but also citizens and business that can use data in new ways and provide better insight to aid in the making of decisions.
• Responsiveness – Putting data into an open domain allows all groups to participate equally in debates and allows the government to be more responsive to the public.
• Better Informed – Availability of data means that citizens will become better informed.  This should improve the quality and performance of the public sector.

Perricos predicted that “we are moving to a future where the power of open data moves analytics past just ‘big data’ and towards ‘big insight’.”