Engaging with all stakeholders is critical in ensuring that open data systems become part of your existing knowledge management ecosystem. Open data are most valuable when integrated into existing work flows and new products or services. Open data will be least used, or useful, when regarded as an unrelated data store.
Open data that informs residents about their relative energy consumption, or investors about local opportunities, or city managers about the concerns of rate-payers are all data that is not just public, but useful.
Any open data project must also recognise that not all data should be treated the same way. Research data may include confidential personal information of value to scientists but only accessible under careful controls. Different collection methodology may result in different data results for the same metric.
An open data system means that knowledge management is a very public process.
Whythawk works with our clients to facilitate stakeholder engagement and guide the creation of the final development brief. We then lead the implementation process and ensure that the delivered open data system supports our clients needs now, and is sufficiently flexible to adapt to future requirements.
Gavin Chait is Whythawk's Lead Consultant & Data Scientist. He has consulted globally for twenty years, including leading open data projects in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Australia.
Simon Rodd is Whythawk’s Account and Project Manager. He has a 16-year record of leading teams within complex solutions environments, delivering account development and planning, new product introduction and innovation, and project management and delivery.