An enormous amount of data have been collected over the past fifty years. A big proportion of the data have been used once, and once only. The immense value of an accumulation of large amounts of data has never been realised.
The critical aspect of access is that the data should be accessible where needed, and on a basis that is in time and on time. This has not been the norm in society at any point in my life-time. The following little incident a couple of years back in about 2010 is an example of a well known project collecting data, but not making the data available for anyhone but themselves.
Millennium Village Project
Columbia University's Earth Institute has launched an initiative to reduce poverty
called the Millennium Villages Project (MVP). While this embraces seven
development ideas ... (1) fertilizer ad seeds to improve food yield; (2) anti-malarial
bed nets; (3) improved water sources; (4) diversification from staples into cash crops;
a school feeding program; deworming for all; and, (7) new technology introduction
(energy saving stoves and mobile phones) ... it does not appear to embrace the data
and management concepts of TVM Value Accountancy.
It is not easy to evaluate MVP performance and learn anything from it because,
though they are reported to have collected a vast amount of data, none of the data are
accessible to the public ... to independent researchers and analysts. Rather, what is
accessible to the public is a tiny amount of public relations oriented material and a
growing body of academic literature that is characterized more by lateness than by
immediate relevance.
While this may appear to be success when looked at from the University and
academic perspective, this may well be total failure from the perspective of cost
effective high performance socio-economic development. Using the basic concepts
of TVM Value Accountancy all the indications are that the MVP is a lot of money
not doing very much.
This table shows how various types of organization seem to treat data.
Organization type
What data they have and what they do with data
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How accessible to the public
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Projects
Collect data to justify the project and get funding. Collect data for M&E and a report
to funders. At the end of the project the data is archived ... and effectively lost for
ever.
|
Very low.
No data put into the public space ... why
bother ... worse, it may serve to show the
project made little of value even though
it cost a lot.
|
NGOs
Collect data and write reports and proposals to attract funding. Publish financial
reports required by regulatory agencies ... typical a minimum requirement that shows
very little beyond very broad classification.
|
Very low.
No data flows into the public space ...
none of the data accessible for analysis.
Data used to strengthen position in the
industry.
|
Government Agencies – South
Most data collected in the country goes to the government in one form or another ...
but is rarely used in a productive manner, and is not usually easily accessible ... if it
is accessible at all.
|
Very low.
No data flows into the public space ...
none of the data accessible for analysis.
Much data treated as secret.
|
Scientific Research Institutions
Data collected circulates within the scientific elite, but rarely outside academic
circles. Reports are prepared that help maintain grant flows and satisfy donors.
|
Very low.
No data flows into the public space ...
none of the data easily accessible for
analysis.
|
Academic Institutions
Some academic institutions are well funded for data collection, but the data collected
seems to be used for limited goals including PhD production and for analysis that
supports career development and grant flow maintenance.
|
Very low.
No data flows into the public space ...
none of the data accessible for analysis.
|
Individuals
Data collected and used for work being done by the individual, whether this is work
being done in an individual capacity, or for a project or organization.
|
Very low.
No data flowing into the public space ...
however, many individuals would like to
share the data so that it becomes public
access data but no easy low cost vehicle
for this.
|
Corporations
Data collected is used by the corporate staff to do analysis and internal reports that
show performance and progress. Used by the corporation to show how much of
social value is being done, even where what is being done is very tiny relative to the
scale of the main corporate operations.
|
Very low
No data flows into the public space ...
none of the data accessible for analysis,
but some material used for public
relations by the corporations.
|
Government Agencies - North
Government agencies have collections of data ... but most of the data are protected
from public access . When data are made accessible to the public there are usually
major deletions that make the data worthless.
|
Very low
Almost no data flow into the public space
... and almost impossible to access for
independent analysis.
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Multilateral Agencies
UN, World Bank and all multilateral agencies have huge collections of data, but
little of the data are able to be used in effective ways for analysis except within the
system.
|
Very low
No data accessible in the public space ...
but huge amount of material is published,
most of which cannot be independently
validated.
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