Oxford Internet Institute - Events - Open Data Now: How Open Data is Changing Government, Business, and Society

"Open Data - accessible, public data in readily usable formats - has become a global force for change. In this talk, Joel Gurin, author of the new book Open Data Now and director of the Open Data 500 study, will describe how this growing resource is having an impact on government, business and society. He will also describe how it relates to Big Data, concerns about personal data and privacy, and other trends impacting the Internet today. The talk will cover the findings of the Open Data 500 study, a project of the GovLab at New York University, which is the first comprehensive study of the use of Open Data by new and established businesses. Open government data on healthcare, finance, education, energy, and many other areas has become a business resource around the world. The 500 businesses in this ongoing study show the wide variety of companies, ranging from two-person startups to billion-dollar enterprises, that are using Open Data successfully. While the current study has focused on the U.S., the GovLab plans to replicate it in the UK and in other countries as well. Open Data has also created new opportunities for government to engage with the public, new approaches to the release of personal data, and new expectations of openness and transparency for businesses and government alike. This talk will touch on these aspects of Open Data and its impact as well."