What is the Open Data Movement & Why Does it Matter?
My presentation focused on talking about the key qualities of open data, the process of opening up data, and its benefits. I mentioned various examples from across the world regarding usages of open data to describe and find patterns in how the various governmental processes function (elections, parliament, judiciary, and media outreach), and different topics related to flows of finance and resources (government budget and expenditure, international aids, financial information about corporates, allotment of oil concessions, and global investments in land). The discussion following the presentation focused on questions of how privacy concerns can be protected while opening up data, how protecting the (human) sources of published data is also important in sensitive situations (especially in the context of reporting incidents of hate speech and religious violence), how the capacity of grassroot organisations to collect, use, and share open data can be increased, and if open data can become a public resource during the upcoming national election later this year. At the end of the event, I was interviewed by a journalist of Myanmar Times on these topics.
