Taking it back to basics
Photo by Ian Cylkowski on Unsplash - Landscape photo of a boulder in the Lake District with a small stream

Taking it back to basics

We want to make Stream accessible and open to all, so we’re taking it back to basics today with an Introduction to Open Data

What is data?

Think of data like ingredients in a recipe. It's information collected from various sources, like numbers or words. Just as ingredients combine to make a dish, data comes together to provide insights and help us make decisions. This helps us make sense of things in the world around us.

What is open data?

Open data is “data and content [that] can be?freely used, modified, and shared?by?anyone?for?any purpose” (source) there are a few different licences that can be added to data but that can be for another post. (a licence helps provide more information on how the data can be used and shared)

Why is it important?

Opening up data to be viewed and used by anyone is important for many reasons. But the main one is that it means knowledge becomes more accessible and distributed.

Some other benefits, but not limited to, include:

  • Increased transparency

  • Innovation opportunities
  • New and/or improved products and services
  • Tackle tricky questions or challenges that seem to have no answer so far

Most importantly, open data is for everyone!

Open data is beneficial

Here are some examples of open data initiatives that have proven benefits.

  • UK government officials used?open data?about government spending to save £4 million in 15 minutes (source)
  • Fake News Shield is an application that detects fake news for the population by scanning several sources for their credibility using machine learning (source)
  • Digital Dryads’ application aims to protect forests from illegal deforestation by combining aerial and multi-spectral satellite imagery (source)
  • Denmark has identified a?70:1 return on investment?by choosing to publish address data openly (source)


Resources:

https://opendefinition.org/

https://opendatahandbook.org/guide/en/

https://okfn.org/en/

https://theodi.org/

Open Data Institute Open Knowledge Foundation Stream: Unlocking Water Data

Author: Elysia Moore - Stream Product Owner

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