Vaughn Tan's The Uncertainty Mindset is one of the most fascinating books I've read this year. It's an exploration of how to build R&D teams drawing on lessons learned in high-end kitchens around the world. I love cooking and I'm interested in creative R&D and what makes high-performing teams work well. I'd strongly recommend it … Continue reading Four types of innovation around data
Category: Data
Increasing inclusion around open standards for data
I read an interesting article this week by Ana Brandusescu, Michael Canares and Silvana Fumega. Called "Open data standards design behind closed doors?" it explores issues of inclusion and equity around the development of "open data standards" (which I'm reading as "open standards for data"). Ana, Michael and Silvana rightly highlight that standards development is … Continue reading Increasing inclusion around open standards for data
FAIR, fairer, fairest?
"FAIR" (or "FAIR data") is an term that I've been bumping into more and more frequently. For example, its included in the UK's recently published Geospatial Strategy. FAIR is an acronym that stands for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. It defines a set of principles that highlight some important aspects of publishing machine-readable data well. … Continue reading FAIR, fairer, fairest?
What kinds of data is it useful to include in a register?
Registers are useful lists of information. A register might be a list of countries, companies, or registered doctors. Or addresses. At the ODI we did a whole report on registers. It looks at different types of registers and how they're governed. And GDS built a whole infrastructure to support them being published and used across … Continue reading What kinds of data is it useful to include in a register?
Cooking up a new approach to supporting purposeful use of data
In my last post I explored how we might better support the use of datasets. To do that I applied the BASEDEF framework to outline the ways in which communities might collaborate to help unlock more value from individual datasets. But what if we changed our focus from supporting discovery and use of datasets and … Continue reading Cooking up a new approach to supporting purposeful use of data
How can you help support the use of a dataset?
Getting the most value from data, whilst minimising its harmful impacts, is a community activity. Datasets need to be governed and published well. Most of that responsibility falls on the data publisher. Because the choices they make shapes data ecosystems. But other people have a role to play too. Being a good data user means … Continue reading How can you help support the use of a dataset?
How can publishing more data decrease the value of existing data?
Last month I wrote a post looking at how publishing new data might increase the value of existing data. I ended up listing seven different ways including things like improving validation, increasing coverage, supporting the ability to link together datasets, etc. But that post only looked at half of the issue. What about the opposite? … Continue reading How can publishing more data decrease the value of existing data?
How can publishing more data increase the value of existing data?
There's lots to love about the "Value of Data" report. Like the fantastic infographic on page 9. I'll wait while you go and check it out. Great, isn't it? My favourite part about the paper is that it's taught me a few terms that economists use, but which I hadn't heard before. Like "Incomplete contracts" … Continue reading How can publishing more data increase the value of existing data?
Three types of agreement that shape your use of data
Whenever you're accessing, using or sharing data you will be bound by a variety of laws and agreements. I've written previously about how data governance is a nested set of rules, processes, legislation and norms. In this post I wanted to clarify the differences between three types of agreements that will govern your use of … Continue reading Three types of agreement that shape your use of data
When can expect more from data portability?
We're at the end of week 5 of 2020, of the new decade and I'm on a diet. I'm back to using MyFitnessPal again. I've used it on and off for the last 10 years whenever I've decided that now is the time to be more healthy. The sporadic, but detailed history of data collection … Continue reading When can expect more from data portability?
Lost Boy 