Where we want to get
“Good data”, which is representative, comparable, harmonized, interoperable, and subject to ethical principles, provides added value for societies and helps them in fact-checking and countering fake news. Governments have the means to publish “good data” in such a way that it is visible and, in this way, promote its reuse. A global platform could bundle this “good data” and would be able to tell you who has which data sets, how good the quality is, how often they are collected, whether they are representative. If they are open government data, you can access it directly via an API, otherwise the platform would contain information on where you can request access and, if applicable, who is allowed to link it with other data.
Goals of the international (meta-) data platform
- Make “good data” visible;
- Bring together existing national (meta-)data platforms and those of international organizations;
- Increase transparency and enable more evidence-based policy-making;
- Enable the re-use of data by governments, science and all other actors.
Mechanism
Data on the various national platforms and from international organisations is made visible through a country’s or international organisation’s metadata platform. The data itself remains on its own platform. If the metadata platforms are harmonized, then a global platform can connect to all these platforms. Thus, all (good) data sets could be made visible in a global platform. The global platform would ideally be built in a manner that does not modify data ownership and quality assurance responsibilities, but creates benefits and synergies for all participating data owners. Attention has also to be paid to the quality of data and the protection of individuals’ privacy.