Tame the beast

A recent article in The Economist about data and transparency addresses the possible downsides of open government data. While the article sites some positive examples of efforts governments have made to make data more open, it acknowledges that, “whatever governments do, the presentation of endless facts can fall flat unless there are independent developers who know what to do with them.”

Even people used to dealing with data can be overwhelmed by all the raw stuff. In March Development Gateway is launching AidData, a repository that tracks more than 1 million projects spanning 81 donor agencies and totaling more than $4.1 trillion dollars over 40 years. Although clearly a rich source of information, one researcher who got a sneak preview of the database characterized it as an “unwieldy monster.”

Such a reaction didn’t surprise us. We know that it will take a variety of tools and a multi-disciplinary approach to make the data meaningful to a broad range of people. Toward that end, we are holding the Aid Information Challenge, an informal conference to bring together software developers and development practitioners to come up with applications that will make the data easier to access and more helpful to users. This event, held at the World Bank on March 12, is co-sponsored by AidInfo, ForumOne, and the World Bank. This video explains the purpose of the event. To register for the Aid Information Challenge, and help us tame the beast, click here.

The public launch of AidData will take place at the Aid Transparency and Development Finance conference in Oxford, U.K., March 22 – 25. Read more about AidData here.

Greetings for the New Year

As a tribute to all our friends and family, the first blog post of the new year features a photo of the participants at the annual knowledge-sharing workshop for AMP, held in Dakar during the first week in December. Without these stakeholders our aid management program would not be as robust. The participants impressed us with their spirit of collaboration and with the knowledge and experiences they shared. The workshop gave us insights into how different countries are addressing issues of aid management. It also gave us some ideas for add-ons to the system. More importantly, it showed us a real example of South-South collaboration. We thank all of the attendees for making the event a success.

The year ended in a rush of activity as the workshop came to an end and then we embarked on a strategic planning process. That process is now under way. We have much to look forward to in 2010. AidData, a user-friendly global repository of development activities, will be launched in March. The aid management program will open its Asian market with an implementation in Laos. And, we will host a follow-on to the Open Development camp. Look here for more details.