Data is what we want - but why?

By the_big_debate on Oct 27, 09 02:36 PM in Communication

By Paul Bradshaw

The question is 'Can West Midlands creative industries revolutionise the UK Economy?' The answer is 'Yes, but'. And the 'but' is 'if we have the data to do it'.

What is data? Data can be anything from how many people are dying from a particular medical condition every year, to what your council spends their money on, or what time the number 33 passes your house.

Why is it important? Because it can create a new marketplace. And it's a marketplace that the West Midlands is already well positioned to benefit from.

The best analogy I can think of is polymers. When the technology behind polymers was developed in the last century, it created a whole new market - innovative producers could create new products, and cheaper ways of producing old products.

Similar opportunities are available with the release of data - release postcodes for businesses to use cheaply or for free, and you have the opportunity for new businesses creating applications based on location. Release transport data and others can tell you which direction to head in for the next bus.

The more data is made available - assuming it is in a flexible format - the more valuable all those other parts of data become - because you can 'mash' different pieces of data together to produce interesting results. For one great example, see Mapumental, a 4iP-funded project which tells you the best place to live based on a combination of transport data, property prices and 'scenicness'.

But this isn't just a commercial plea - it's an ethical one too. The more data we have, the better we can engage with our democracies, with our health and with our environment.

Recently, for example, the Royal Mail stopped companies accessing its postcode data, meaning the closure of two very important civic services: PlanningAlerts - which told you when a planning application was made near your house - and Ernest Marples - which alerted you to job vacancies in your area. Both also save taxpayers money.

In the Midlands we already have an international reputation for doing interesting things with data - from BCCDIY to BeVocal, and my own project: Help Me Investigate. There is a passion to be involved in local issues, and to make the region better - preferably in a creative, fun way. As people around the country talk about data they often point to Birmingham projects as examples of good practice.

If we're to continue to innovate and to attract people to our city we need to support that - with data. From the minutes of council meetings to feeds of planning applications; from West Midlands Travel timetables to live traffic information. We need the people who control information in our city to let it go - and reap the benefits.