Honest assessment of the difficulties facing open data, and routes to overcome them. Presentation given to Open Government Camp, Warsaw, October 21, 2011

1. Community Died
How The Open Data
A warning from the (scary) future
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

2. Me: Chris Taggart
@countculture

3. Me: Chris Taggart
@countculture
Founder of OpenlyLocal, opening up local government
info since 2009. 150 councils, 10,000 councillors, 2
million payments, £14 billion – all open data

4. Me: Chris Taggart
@countculture
Founder of OpenlyLocal, opening up local government
info since 2009. 150 councils, 10,000 councillors, 2
million payments, £14 billion – all open data
Member of UK Local Public Data Panel

5. Me: Chris Taggart
@countculture
Founder of OpenlyLocal, opening up local government
info since 2009. 150 councils, 10,000 councillors, 2
million payments, £14 billion – all open data
Member of UK Local Public Data Panel
Co-founder & CEO of OpenCorporates

8. Open Data!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/warrenfree/4809510399/sizes/l/in/photostream/

9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/tim_ellis/3857286402/
...but what will it look like
when the party’s over

10. That scary future in full...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

11. That scary future in full...
A highly interconnected world of a very few (< 10)
closed Big Data owners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

12. That scary future in full...
A highly interconnected world of a very few (< 10)
closed Big Data owners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Data goes in, rarely comes out

13. That scary future in full...
A highly interconnected world of a very few (< 10)
closed Big Data owners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Data goes in, rarely comes out
Willing purchasers of public data

14. That scary future in full...
A highly interconnected world of a very few (< 10)
closed Big Data owners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Data goes in, rarely comes out
Willing purchasers of public data
For practical purposes beyond the scope of
governance, governments, the people

15. That scary future in full...
A highly interconnected world of a very few (< 10)
closed Big Data owners
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Data goes in, rarely comes out
Willing purchasers of public data
For practical purposes beyond the scope of
governance, governments, the people
Open data a historical artefact

16. What went wrong?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

17. Re lev anc e, Re lev a
What went wrong?
nce ,R
el eva nce
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenschafer/205643749/sizes/l/in/photostream/

18. Relevance
We allowed ourselves to be
marginalised by government

19. Relevance
a critical mass
We didn’t form
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viktor_Bout_Extradited_to_US.jpg

20. Relevance
a critical mass
We didn’t form
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viktor_Bout_Extradited_to_US.jpg

21. Relevance
We didn’t appear in search
results

22. Relevance
op en d ata
ogl e ha tes
Go
We didn’t appear in search
results

23. Relevance
depended on it
Nobody’s business
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/5719382021/sizes/l/in/photostream/

24. Relevance
prison
We didn’t put anyone in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viktor_Bout_Extradited_to_US.jpg

25. Relevance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viktor_Bout_Extradited_to_US.jpg
every day
open data
sts to use
d journali
We nee
We didn’t put anyone in
prison

26. There is a chance to change
our future

27. There is a chance to change
our future
Don’t be irrelevant. Gain standing in the conversation
(cf Carl Malamud’s 10 Rules for Radicals)

28. There is a chance to change
our future
Don’t be irrelevant. Gain standing in the conversation
(cf Carl Malamud’s 10 Rules for Radicals)
Expect failure, but fight for success & fail forward

29. There is a chance to change
our future
Don’t be irrelevant. Gain standing in the conversation
(cf Carl Malamud’s 10 Rules for Radicals)
Expect failure, but fight for success & fail forward
Politicians and bureaucrats are enablers or blockers.
Support the enablers, work around the blockers, and
go public when necessary

30. There is a chance to change
our future
Don’t be irrelevant. Gain standing in the conversation
(cf Carl Malamud’s 10 Rules for Radicals)
Expect failure, but fight for success & fail forward
Politicians and bureaucrats are enablers or blockers.
Support the enablers, work around the blockers, and
go public when necessary
Build a business on open data. Really. Do it now!

31. There is a chance to change
our future
Link to other open data sites, and link intelligently,
because we need to...

32. There is a chance to change
our future
Link to other open data sites, and link intelligently,
because we need to...
Get good at SEO (and get Google to reward
open data publishers, not penalise them)

33. There is a chance to change
our future
Link to other open data sites, and link intelligently,
because we need to...
Get good at SEO (and get Google to reward
open data publishers, not penalise them)
Remember, if open data doesn’t cause problems for
the incumbents, it’s not working