In this module we have explored what open data is, how to implement it in your research and how it can be used. When research data is made open by applying an open license and depositing it into a data repository, it allows others to easily access, share, and/or re-use the data. This leads to:
Public Service Improvement: Open Data provides citizens with data they can use to engage their governments and improve public services.
Accelerating the pace of discovery: When datasets are openly available, they can be used to create a fuller picture of a given area of inquiry, or analyzed by different research teams that can uncover connections not apparent to those who produced the original data.
Research Transparency: By making available all the necessary information, this increases the credibility of the research by supporting external verification of the results.
Impact: Others using your data can increase the number of times you are cited, raise your research profile and improve your chance for future funding.
Key Takeaways
- Open data is defined as structured data that is machine-readable, freely shared, used, and built on without restrictions.
- The FAIR principles are a set of guidelines to make data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
- Not all data can or should be open, what type of data and privacy are important considerations.
- Open data is valuable for research and data reproducibility, public service transformation, innovation, impact, and research discovery.
- One approach to implementing open data is to plan your data management, describe your open data, and preserve and share your open data.
- Open data is used in open government to improve transparency.
- In teaching and learning, open data can help students develop critical thinking, statistical and data literacy, and global citizenship.
