Show me the (quality) data! | Open Knowledge Foundation Blog

"Show me your data! Put it online! Make it re-useable and accessible! That’s the rallying cry of many in the Open Data movement. Few, at this point, seem to be demanding: make sure your data is credible, robust and of high quality! Why is this important? It is true that there is value in making a range of data sets available to stimulate interest in data use. At the same time, there is a real risk that the Open Data momentum could be derailed if out- of-date or inaccurate data sets made available by governments are used for economic forecasting, developmental planning or attempts to hold a government to account. Imagine a CSO trying to measure a country’s progress toward a developmental goal based on 10-year-old poverty data. Think it’s an unrealistic scenario? Think again.  In Kenya, the most recent household poverty data available was compiled in 2005-06. This data has now been released though the Open Data portal. How useful is it? How can NGOs use it to argue for effecting changes? To measure government development goal delivery? How can the Government develop economic policies or make resource allocations based on this data?  Most data is, or should be, drawn from records, and if the records aren’t reliable, the data won’t be reliable. Records integrity is based on proper management of the information from the time it is created until it ceases to have value.  Where reliable records cannot be accessed, openness is unachievable.  Poorly managed records tend to be incomplete, difficult to locate, and hard to authenticate; they can be easily manipulated, deleted, fragmented or lost. They undermine Open Government initiatives and result in inaccurate or incomplete data and information, which in turn can lead to the misunderstanding and misuse of information, cover-up of fraud, skewed findings and statistics, misguided policy and misplaced funding, all with serious consequences for citizens’ lives. Poor quality records can impair delivery of justice, human rights cannot be protected, government services are compromised, and civil society cannot hold governments to account...