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We’re constantly blogging about data. If you’d like to contribute, let us know.

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Topics

Topic
Covid-19
- Ben Snaith
- Deborah Yates
- Jeni Tennison
- Olivier Thereaux
We’re helping you to make sense of publishing and accessing data during Covid-19, with free tools, guides, explainers, research and opinion pieces.

Latest

Blog 10/08/2016
We need to learn how to search the web of data
- Data infrastructure
- Data publishing and use
- Search and discovery
Search for the web of data is still in the portal era, but portals do not meet all user needs. Imagine a world where you could search for, find, understand, trust and use data as easily as you can for news
Blog, Reports 07/08/2016
Who owns our data infrastructure?
- Data infrastructure
In this paper we explore the question “who owns our data infrastructure – globally, nationally and locally?” We look at what data ownership looks like and what we can expect from those that manage data that is fundamental to a functioning society
Blog 24/06/2016

Data knows no boundaries
Blog, Reports 20/04/2016
Research: The economic value of open versus paid data
- Innovation
New economic research commissioned by the ODI shows that across all core public sector data assets open data will provide 0.5% of GDP more economic value every year than data that users have to pay for
Blog 19/04/2016
Guest post: Putting forgotten communities back on the map with open data
- Data infrastructure
- Geospatial data and mapping
How do official boundaries impact on the services, representation and livelihoods that they fall on? Mike Thacker from Porism explains how to put communities back on the map
Blog 19/01/2016
Comment: Blockchain technology is useful, but not for everything
- Emerging tech and AI
- James Smith (Dr)
- Jeni Tennison
The Government Chief Scientific Advisor is exploring blockchain technologies. We welcome the focus on data infrastructure but call for more scrutiny of risks, less hype and a focus on using blockchains to solve challenges
Blog 08/01/2016
What would legislation for data infrastructure and open data look like?
- Data infrastructure
Given the importance of data infrastructure, countries should be looking to strengthen it
Blog, Case study 23/12/2015

A year in open data: How the ODI helped to deliver a successful democratic transition in Burkina Faso We reflect on the use of open data in building trust in an election process that faced many obstacles, and on the ODI’s role in supporting this process.
Blog, Case study 22/12/2015

A year in open data: Breathe Heathrow informs policy making Access to data can bring objectivity and insight to highly polarised debates. By involving communities in collecting and publishing data, OpenSensors.io and the ODI demonstrated how both citizens and policy makers can become better informed about issues of local and national importance.
Blog, Case study 16/12/2015

Travel smarter with open data app Fasteroute Research from open data startup Fasteroute and the Open Data Institute (ODI) reveals the UK cities most affected by morning delays and how commuters can avoid them