Every year in late February or early March everyone is invited to celebrate the benefits that open data brought to people and communities. Open data are data that can be used and distributed by anyone without having to fulfil any requirements other than the requirement of attribution or the requirement to share the results deriving from the use of the data under the same conditions. The data that are most commonly opened up are research data or data from the public sector; however, some enterprises also choose to open up parts of their data to the public. The international Open Data Day has been celebrated since 2010; its precise date is set and the main events are coordinated by the Open Knowledge Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which advocates the opening up of knowledge and non-personal data to all members of the society.
Access to previously inaccessible data advances equality, accountability and inspires new business projects. Around the world, thousands of projects and initiatives have been inspired by open data. At the bottom of this text Vilnius University Library’s Scientific Information and Data Division introduces a selection of five open data-inspired initiatives, which show how diverse open data and the fields of their usage can be. Perhaps these examples will inspire you to contribute to the creation of open data or to put the already available data to good use.
More information on open research data is available in the Research Data Management section of the Library’s website. If you are looking for a platform to host your open research data, the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) hosted by our university is at your service.
Scientific Information and Data Division’s Top 5 of Open Data-Inspired Initiatives
- Our World in Data portal. The portal presents numerous analytical articles pertaining to the world’s most pressing issues. The data describing economic, social and natural changes in the world are presented and discussed in a language that is understandable to laymen audiences. The content is curated by a group of scientists based at the University of Oxford. The main objective of the portal is to spread data-based knowledge and thus empower people to tackle the world’s problems more efficiently.
- Atlas Open Data project. The project initiated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (more commonly known as CERN) offers educational resources based on the results of experiments conducted inside their Large Hadron Collider. The Atlas Open Data projects provides interested schools and universities not only with the datasets collected during the experiments but also with specially designed analytical tools.
- BlindSquare mobile app. The app combines geolocation data taken from the Open Street Map project with the information shared by the users of Foursquare social network and translates them into synthesised speech. This creates an accessible navigation tool for blind and visually impaired people which allows them to share information on their favourite places on Foursquare and explore objects of interest marked by the other users of the social network. The app is available in English and a variety of other languages.
- The Harvard College Open Data Project (HODP). This undergraduate student-run project from the Harvard University uses Open Data published by the university (for example, statistics or survey results) to create analytical reports that address questions important to the university community. This way the students not only provide the community with high-quality reads but also can practice their data analysis and written presentation skills.
- Air quality mobile apps. The last position is shared among several mobile apps that harvest data from air quality monitoring stations around the world, filter and analyse them in order to produce reports on the air quality at the user’s location. One example of such widgets is the Air Quality App created by Plume Labs, a start-up based in Paris.
Gintė Medzvieckaitė, 2021-03-05