Does open data make development more accountable? The case of Colombia | space for transparency

Use the link to access the infographics discussed in the following blog post: "Mapping different data sets from a country – with bright colours and click-through functions – may be a visual delight for developers and the tech-savvy, but what do these maps offer those crafting public policies? After all, the point of open data is to make more accountable and effective decision-making – whether it is about the public services to deliver, budgets to allocate or corruption risks to address. In the case of Colombia, Development Gateway and Transparencia por Colombia (the local chapter of Transparency International) have visually mapped data on development projects, transparency at the local level and poverty rates in Colombia to start to unravel this policy conundrum. While the data is backward looking on projects (2005), it gives us a sense of snap-shot in time – and better sense of how decisions must be made today. With a couple of taps on your mouse, you can zoom in – both literally and metaphorically – on what is happening in each of the country’s 32 administrative departments on these three issues. In looking across the three maps, the traffic-light coloured scale shows that higher rates of poverty and lower levels of transparency (and higher corruption risks) often follow together. This trend supports what Transparency International has been arguing – poverty and corruption are highly correlated and the poor pay more when it comes to the problem.  The map’s data draw on publicly available information provided by the World Bank on its activities, the integrity index produced by the TI chapter in Colombia and poverty data from the Inter-American Development Bank... There are two surprises that jump out from the maps..."