A new approach to measuring the impact of open data and digital transparency initiatives

[Julia Keserű]

Hey all,

(Sorry for the cross-post.) 

In the past few months, we at Sunlight worked hard to tackle some of the methodological challenges facing the open government community, including the difficulties in assessing the social impact of digital transparency and open data initiatives. A few weeks ago, we presented our research at the Cartagena Data Festival, and today we are happy to launch the first edition of our findings.

The outputs of our research include:

• A searchable repository of more than 100 examples on the outputs, outcomes and impacts of open data and digital technology projects;
  
• Three distinctive theories of change for open data and digital transparency initiatives from the Global South;
  
• A methodological framework to help develop more robust indicators of social and political change for the ecosystem of open data initiatives, by applying and revising the Outcome Mapping approach of IDRC to the field.

Here`s the blog post that summarizes our findings: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2015/05/05/a-new-approach-to-measuring-the-impact-of-open-data/ 

The repository of case stories is available at the following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jP6WIkEPczb8MBn6DNOU2PhKp9Prwe4HokqhUQVsxE0/edit#gid=0

And you can read the whole study at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/263776138/The-Social-Impact-of-Open-Data 

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or suggestions about our approach!

Best,

Julia
 

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Júlia Keserű

International Policy Manager

1818 N Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036 

(1) 202-742-1520 *246