The Finnish Institute Releases a Report on Open Data

Antti Halonen's new research report, Being Open About Data, argues for better user engagement and more research on the social impacts of opening data.

The Finnish Institute in London has recently completed a five-month research project on British open data policies. The newly published report by Antti Halonen, Fellow at the Finnish Institute in London, looks on how the open data ecosystem has emerged in the UK and what lessons can be drawn upon the British experiences. 2012 is an important year for the open data community in Finland, and this report also aims to further facilitate the development of the open knowledge discussion in Finland.

The research was conducted mostly by semi-structured interviews of key experts and qualitative analysis of government policies. Starting point for the research was to primarily address the applicability of open data: how data is being used and what kind of benefits can be identified from its usage. The report argues that in the future more focus should be given to the normative side of open data and its potential impacts on democracy.

Open knowledge is one of the Finnish Institute in London's current focus areas and the Institute is a partner organisation of the upcoming Open Knowledge Festival in Helsinki, Finland.

The report, Being Open About Data - Analysis of the UK open data policies and applicability of data, can be downloaded here.

Read more about Antti Halonen's views and analysis on his research at the Finnish Institute in London here.