A cross-initiative scoping study

During the summer of 2013 Development Initiatives commissioned the Open Knowledge Foundation to conduct a scoping study into the intersections between 5 different transparency initiatives. The aim of this project is to take a first step towards enabling users to easily combine and re-purpose information from different sources to meet their needs.

The scoping study recommends:

• 3  building blocks: Initial focus should be placed on seeking common political and technical solutions to three areas of concern to a range of initiatives:  organisational identifiers; sub-national geodata; and contracts.
• Shared learnings: Initiatives have much to learn from each other’s diverse expertise and experience in the governance and implementation of  standards.
• Joined-up for all: Collaboration on the above will provide lessons, experience, and  a common platform to engage and advocate for the adoption of joined-up data and common standards for all publishers committed to transparent and accountable procedures.

Participating in the study were the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative,  Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative,  Global Initiative for Financial Transparency, International Aid Transparency Initiative, and Open Contracting.

The paper was written by Neil Ashton of the Open Knowledge Foundation and edited by Bill Anderson of Development Initiatives. It was presented at the Open Government Partnership London Summit on 1 Nov 2013.

As well as the full briefing (see top right), you can read a 2 page summary downloadable here: Joined Up Data 2 page summary and a blog by  Bill Anderson here.