Writing
about standards for open data, Matthew McClellan neatly sums up the three
biggest benefits to be had from standards. He calls the first one “scale”, by
which he means speed of development, reduced costs and saved labor. The second
is “integration” – the ability to share data inside and across organizations.
It's
his third benefit that makes me sit up. He calls it “serendipity”: “Open data and open standards invite public servants and private
citizens alike to build novel applications on top of government data, leading
to unforeseen insights.”
This
message is at the heart of the open data movement – but it's strangely muted in
the business world. Why is this? Is it because the idea of gaining insight from
standardized, shared, and aggregated data has been colonized by promoters of
big data and analytics? Maybe the use of these technical-sounding terms – and
their association with vendors and consultants – is inhibiting people in
organizations from championing data-based discovery. If so, that's more than a
shame.
We
beat ourselves up about our track record with innovation, when potential
sources for new ideas, processes, products and services lay buried in our data.
The tools are out there. The data is accessible. With standards, the data is
meaningful. Commerce needs to take a leaf from the open data community's book –
these guys are looking more creative and more entrepreneurial than the
traditional technology shops in many industry sectors.
And don't you love McClellan's use of the word “invite” in that quote? Standards are begging us to raise our game. Data Smart
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