On February 15th Pro Bono Publico and Access Info Europe organized the first Spanish barcamp on data driven journalism. The event took place in Madrid, at Medialab Prado. The videos can be accessed here.
The Open Data agenda has been pushed forward by the US and UK administrations since 2009. It focuses on making government data publicly available for its reuse, preferably in machine readable formats. The objectives sought by these policies are at least twofold: (1) introducing greater transparency in the political process; and, (2) the development of a new generation of public services.
Developers, designers and civic activists world-wide have covered a lot of ground over the last couple of years. New software applications have mashed up different datasets to create exciting, freely available new knowledge.
We can now, for instance, scrutinize public spending, address official questions to government, keep a closer eye on our political representatives, report deficiencies in public infrastructure, cross reference housing data with official crime statistics, etc.. All of this online. Specialist new media such as the Guardian Datablog (UK) or The Story (Ireland) are currently at the forefront of innovation in this area from a journalistic perspective in Europe.
Spain is currently lagging behind in this global movement. Different public administrations are dipping their toes in the water, but right now, with very few noteworthy exceptions, newspaper headlines are well ahead of reality. The datasets opened up by these administrations (central, regional and local) are just not up to the task. They lack genuine interest (content) and/or their quality is very deficient (format).
Other pending issues in Spain include the long-awaited legislation covering right of access to public information, or the unresolved approach to data licenses. There isn’t such a thing as open data unless license terms are adequate and clearly stated, setting forth, for instance, the framework for potential commercial exploitation.
This notwithstanding, associations like Pro Bono Publico have begun to make significant contributions towards the advancement of this open Data Agenda. Its member David Cabo, for instance, has developed the Spanish equivalent of the UK’s Where Does My Money Go. It is called ‘Donde Van Mis Impuestos’. Other apps have been and will be developed in the context of the ‘Desafío AbreDatos’ contest.
At EZARO MEDIA we believe in the huge sociopolitical and commercial potential of this open data opportunity, and will be monitoring developments to try and be a part of it.
