Research Guides: Open Science and Citizen Science: ↪ Open Data

Local, Regional and Global - Open Data Initiatives

World Bank Open Data

The demand for good-quality statistical data continues to increase. Timely and reliable statistics are key inputs to the broad development strategy. Improvements in the quality and quantity of data on all aspects of development are essential if we are to achieve the goal of a world without poverty.

Good data are needed to set baselines, identify effective public and private actions, set goals and targets, monitor progress and evaluate impacts. They are also an essential tool of good government, providing means for people to assess what governments do and helping them to participate directly in the development process.

At the World Bank, the Development Data Group coordinates statistical and data work and maintains a number of macro, financial, and sector databases. Working closely with the Bank’s regions and Global Practices, the group is guided by professional standards in the collection, compilation, and dissemination of data to ensure that all data users can have confidence in the quality and integrity of the data produced.

Much of the data comes from the statistical systems of member countries, and the quality of global data depends on how well these national systems perform. The World Bank works to help developing countries improve the capacity, efficiency, and effectiveness of national statistical systems. Without better and more comprehensive national data, it is impossible to develop effective policies, monitor the implementation of poverty reduction strategies, or monitor progress towards global goals.

FAIRsharing

Anyone can be a user of FAIRsharing. FAIRsharing brings the producers and consumers of standards, databases, repositories, and data policies closer together, with a growing list of adopters. Representatives of institutions, libraries, journal publishers, funders, infrastructure programs, societies and other organizations or projects (that in turn serve and guide individual researchers or other stakeholders on research data management matters) can become an adopter. We also welcome collaborative proposals from complementary resources, we are open to participating in joint projects to develop services for specific stakeholders and communities.

Global Indigenous Data Alliance

The Workshop “International Law, The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty” was hosted 11-12 July 2019 at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Oñati, Spain.

Convened by Maggie Walter and Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, the Workshop brought together participants from seven nation-states including representation from the Maiam nayri Wingara Collective (Australia); Te Mana Raraunga Maori Data Sovereignty Network (Aotearoa New Zealand); and the United States Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network.

The purpose of the Workshop was to provide a forum for international Indigenous Data Sovereignty scholars and practitioners to collaboratively advance the legal principles underlying collective and individual data rights in the context of UNDRIP. Indigenous Data Sovereignty is a prerequisite for effective delivery of the social, political and economic promises of UNDRIP.

Discussions included:

UNDRIP provides a necessary but insufficient foundation for the realization of Indigenous rights and interests in data. Indigenous Peoples also require Indigenous-designed legal and regulatory approaches founded on Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles.
While national Indigenous Data Sovereignty networks are best placed to respond to and progress data sovereignty for their peoples and communities, a global alliance is needed to advocate for and advance a shared vision for Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
The international focus on the protection of personal data and privacy rights is inadequate for Indigenous Peoples. There is an urgent need for the development and implementation of collective Indigenous privacy laws, regulations, and standards.

Outcomes included:

The formation of GIDA, the Global Indigenous Data Alliance.
Endorsement and hosting of the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance.

Gida meaning

Basque Country is known for its commitment to self-determination, language revitalization, and cultural continuity. GIDA is the Basque word for guide. One of the key aims of GIDA is to share frameworks, tools, and processes to help guide the practice of Indigenous Data Sovereignty around the globe.

Innovation Data Explorer

Our interactive tools let you explore the areas of the world with the greatest density of innovative activity and to visualize networks of collaboration.

WIPO's global databases make it easy for anyone, anywhere, to access the wealth of information in the IP system. They are based on our commitment to creating an inter-connected and inclusive knowledge-sharing IP infrastructure to support innovation worldwide.

SDG Pathfinder

The SDG Pathfinder is an open digital discovery tool, powered by the OECD, providing quick access to content related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This tool applies an SDG lens to policy content from six international organizations.

Content coverage includes curated analysis (books, chapters, articles, papers, etc.), extracted via artificial intelligence based on advanced machine-learning technologies and Natural Language Processing.
The SDG Pathfinder offers analysis for each SDG:

17 thematic views – one per SDG.
Hundreds of topical views – based on an index of key topics defining the SDGs.
A cross-cutting view – a topic map covering the conceptual connections between SDGs.

All you need to know about Open Data

The State of Open Data by Davies, T., Walker, S., Rubinstein, M., & Perini, F. (Eds.).
Call Number: Full-text
ISBN: 9781552506127
Publication Date: 2019
This collection of essays is the product of an 18-month journey that has brought together almost 70 authors, supported by over 200 other contributors, to produce 37 short chapters on the current state of open data from a range of different perspectives, offering the most comprehensive attempt to explore the breadth and depth of the open data field to date.
Good Data by Angela Daly, S. Kate Devitt & Monique Mann, eds.
Call Number: Full-text
ISBN: 9789492302274
Publication Date: 2019
Moving away from the strong body of critique of pervasive ‘bad data’ practices by both governments and private actors in the globalized digital economy, this book aims to paint an alternative, more optimistic but still pragmatic picture of the datafied future. The authors examine and propose ‘good data’ practices, values and principles from an interdisciplinary, international perspective. From ideas of data sovereignty and justice, to manifestos for change and calls for activism, this collection opens a multifaceted conversation on the kinds of futures we want to see and presents concrete steps on how we can start realizing good data in practice.

Data.europa.eu data quality guidelines
The publication ‘Data.europa.eu data quality guidelines’ contains a set of recommendations for delivering high-quality. They are addressed to data providers to support them in preparing their data, developing their data strategy and ensuring data quality. It is composed of the following four parts: 1. Recommendations for providing high-quality data. The recommendations cover general aspects of quality issues regarding the findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability of data (including specific recommendations for common file formats like CSV, JSON, RDF and XML); 2. Recommendations for data standardization (with EU controlled vocabularies) and data enrichment; 3. Recommendations for documenting data; 4. Recommendations for improving the ‘openness level’. At the end of the publication the reader will find a glossary, a table with the overview of quality indicators and metrics, a checklist with the most important steps for improving the quality of data and metadata and a list of literature.

Data Science Handbook: Open, rigorous and reproducible research: A practitioner’s handbook by Dallas Card, Yan; Min, Stylianos Serghiou
Publication Date: 2021-12-14
In summary, this handbook is a guide to making science more open, transparent, and reproducible by presenting best practices in a way that is:
. modular: individual ideas can be used separately or combined
. practical: focused on the most tractable and impactful practices
. general: applicable to any field that works with data and statistical analysis
. concise: aimed at busy scientists who don’t have time to take a full course right now.
A guide to the Open Data Maturity Model: Assigning your open data publishing and use by Open Data Institute and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Publication Date: 2015
The Open Data Maturity Model is a way to assess how well an organisation publishes and consumes open data, and identifies actions for improvement.

The model is based around five themes and five progress levels. Each theme represents a broad area of operations within an organisation. Each theme is broken into areas of activity, which can then be used to assess progress.

CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
The current movement toward open data and open science does not fully engage with Indigenous Peoples rights and interests. Existing principles within the open data movement (e.g. FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) primarily focus on characteristics of data that will facilitate increased data sharing among entities while ignoring power differentials and historical contexts. The emphasis on greater data sharing alone creates a tension for Indigenous Peoples who are also asserting greater control over the application and use of Indigenous data and Indigenous Knowledge for collective benefit.
[ARTICLE] Operationalizing the CARE and FAIR Principles for Indigenous data futures
As big data, open data, and open science advance to increase access to complex and large datasets for innovation, discovery, and decision-making, Indigenous Peoples’ rights to control and access their data within these data environments remain limited. Operationalizing the FAIR Principles for scientific data with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance enhances machine actionability and brings people and purpose to the fore to resolve Indigenous Peoples’ rights to and interests in their data across the data lifecycle.

AGRICULTURE

Open Data Journal for Agricultural Research
Agricultural research uses and produces many relevant data sets in studying agricultural systems across the globe, through its efforts in investigating conditions of global food (in)security at different spatial scales (from regional to national to continental. These data sets have a value to the specific research as these are analysed and investigated, leading to results and conclusions, that are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals or presented at scientific conferences. These data have a longer term value as a resource for the future than the specific research in which they are collected. Other researchers or experts can use these data in new analysis, meta-analysis, or different applications of modelling or statistical tools, leading to new insights for the future. The Open Data Journal for Agriculture Research (ODjAR, ISSN: 2352-6378) acts as a central hub for storing, curating and publishing the data sets as a resource for the future where publications and their authors get appropriate credit through citations and digital object identifiers for future reference.

European Data Strategy / European Commission
The European data strategy aims to make the EU a leader in a data-driven society.Creating a single market for data will allow it to flow freely within the EU and across sectors for the benefit of businesses, researchers and public administrations.
People, businesses and organisations should be empowered to make better decisions based on insights from non-personal data, which should be available to all.

Reusing open data in Spain III by Abella, Alberto, Marta Ortiz de Urbina Criado, Carmen de Pablos Heredero and Diego Garcia Luna
ISBN: 9788418944604
Publication Date: October 2021
This report contains the third study of open date reuse to present the state of the question in 2021 and the progress made since the first report, drawn up in 2017. This will allow updated guidelines and recommendations to help generate business. The Open Data portals in Spain in 2021 were identified, and a sample of the datasets available and the services based on them was analyzed.