Why Open Data Keeps You Relevant

In ‘closed’ — or some might say normal — IT environments where all data sources can be carefully controlled, all statements are taken to be false unless explicitly known to be true. However most ‘new’ data is from the ‘open’ environment of the web and in semantic data. If this is not specifically flagged as true it is categorised as ‘unknown’ rather then false. This single characteristic to me is in many ways the most crucial issue to understand as we go forward into using mixed data sets to support complex ‘business intelligence’ or ‘decision support’ around externally driven events, and situations.

– Andy Mulholland, CTO, Capgemini

Open Data opens up a whole can of worms. The reason is that Open Data leads to a need to discuss Linked Data. This then leads to the Semantic web and ultimately, Web 3.0. Yet, Open Data is a necessary and rudimentary first step for an entity (be it an organization or a government) to stay relevant.

With the financial crisis behind us, the trend will be for earning trust. Trust is earned through transparency, via Open Data.

Governments around the world are interacting with the public in new ways. As IT World Canada pointed out in an exclusive story, Edmonton is embracing Open Data. The U.K. government is using open data. As another example, Iceland is using Open Data to restore trust by being transparent.

What is ‘Open Data’ and why should anyone care? Open Data is data on the web.

So what?

Open Data is a building block. Linking up Open Data is where things get very interesting.

In an article posted by Richard MacManus, MacManus explains why open data, linked data, and the Semantic is so important:

Data is being uploaded to the Web that wasn’t online before (e.g. much of the data on Data.gov.uk).

Structure is being added to the data using Linked Data and/or Semantic Web technologies.

The bottom line is that the more data we have on the Web that is linked and has defined meaning, the smarter our web applications will be. This is why these activities are so exciting, despite the terminology confusion!

Adding to MacManus’s points, Open Data can be mashed up and linked to. Take it a step further, and Open Data can be corrected and fixed by the crowd (“crowd-sourcing”).

Do you see where this is going? Companies sharing its information should be at a competitive disadvantage. Freely available information produces no direct revenue. Yet, linked Open Data could keep companies relevant.

Seeing Linked Open Data in Action

New York Times has nearly 10,000 tags as linked open data. As an example, “Who Went Where” is an application that lets users explorer NYT coverage of alumni of a specified college or university.