Open Data Camp Pitch: Mapping data ecosystems

I’m going to Open Data Camp #4 this weekend. I’m really looking forward to catching up with people and seeing what sessions will be running. I’ve been toying with a few session proposals of my own and thought I’d share an outline for this one to gauge interest and get some feedback.

I’m calling the session: “Mapping open data ecosystems“.

Problem statement

I’m very interested in understanding how people and organisations create and share value through open data. One of the key questions that the community wrestles with is demonstrating that value, and we often turn to case studies to attempt to describe it. We also develop arguments to use to convince both publishers and consumers of data that “open” is a positive.

But, as I’ve written about before, the open data ecosystem consists of more than just publishers and consumers. There are a number of different roles. Value is created and shared between those roles. This creates a value network including both tangible (e.g. data, applications) and intangible (knowledge, insight, experience) value.

I think if we map these networks we can get more insight into what roles people play, what makes a stable ecosystem, and better understand the needs of different types of user. For example we can compare open data ecosystems with more closed marketplaces.

The goal

Get together a group of people to:

• map some ecosystems using a suggested set of roles, e.g. those we are individually involved with
• discuss whether the suggested roles need to be refined
• share the maps with each other, to look for overlaps, draw out insights, validate the approach, etc

Format

I know Open Data Camp sessions are self-organising, but I was going to propose a structure to give everyone a chance to contribute, whilst also generating some output. Assuming an hour session, we could organise it as follows:

• 5 mins review of the background, the roles and approach
• 20 mins group activity to do a mapping exercise
• 20 mins discussion to share maps, thoughts, etc
• 15 mins discussion on whether the approach is useful, refine the roles, etc

The intention here being to try to generate some outputs that we can take away. Most of the session will be group activity and discussion.

Obviously I’m open to other approaches.

And if no-one is interested in the session then that’s fine. I might just wander round with bits of paper and ask people to draw their own networks over the weekend.

Let me know if you’re interested!