Overview
Too often, scarce public and international development resources are spent investing in new software code, tools, data collection, content, and innovations for sector-specific solutions that are locked away behind licensing fees, with data only used by and available to specific initiatives. An open approach to digital development can help to increase collaboration in the digital development community and avoid duplicating work that has already been done. Programs can maximize their resources — and ultimately their impact — through open standards, open data, open-source technologies, and open innovation. By taking advantage of existing investments when you are able, you can apply finite digital development resources toward creating global goods. What being “open” means for an organization’s initiative depends on practical and technical constraints, security and privacy concerns, and the dynamics of the people and networks in your space.
This resource how open standards and leverage open data over the course of the project lifecycle can benefit an organization’s program or initiative.
Do you have feedback on this resource?
Thank you for your feedback as we strive to curate and publish resources to help social impact organizations succeed with data.
Explore More
Related Guides & Resources
Using your Data Responsibly and Ethically
Data is a powerful resource that many organizations have but it needs to be managed and stewarded with care. We must ensure that our data practices are in alignment with our overall organizational values, and that we do not increase the vulnerability of the people that we serve.