This document discusses lessons learned from urban planning about open data. It notes that citizens are generally more interested in improving their communities and seeing results rather than just having data for its own sake. Data is most useful to citizens when it can help them influence change and extend their reach to improve conditions in areas they care about. The document advocates for using data in a way that helps citizens achieve real results and progress in their communities.

1. WHAT URBAN PLANNING
TAUGHT ME ABOUT OPEN
DATA
Karen Quinn Fung
karen@ci8.ca
Open Gov West BC, 11-10-10

2. flickr: rpeschetz, markswi

3. flickr: hvc

4. flickr: mavska

5. Shannon Mews re-zoning

6. flickr: jennyleesilver

7. Collaborative Rationality
Diversity, Interdependency, Authentic Dialogue

8. Diversity

9. bit.ly/cycletracks

10. flickr: junipermarie

11. flickr: trackybirthday

12. Epstein, Paul D., Paul M. Coates, and Lyle D. Wray.
2005. Effective Community Governance Model.

13. Citizens want results, not data. With the exception
of a few policy wonks or data geeks, citizens who get
involved in community measurement are not primarily
interested in data. They are interested in improving
conditions they care about in their community — in
getting results that matter. They participate because they
expect — or hope — that they can use data on community
conditions or service performance to influence change.
To them, information is a means to an end, not an end in
itself. […] When used well, the data can extend citizens’
reach in their efforts to improve results in their
communities.
Epstein, Paul D., Paul M. Coates, and Lyle D. Wray.
2005.

14. Citizens want results, not data. With the exception
of a few policy wonks or data geeks, citizens who get
involved in community measurement are not primarily
interested in data. They are interested in improving
conditions they care about in their community — in
getting results that matter. They participate because they
expect — or hope — that they can use data on community
conditions or service performance to influence change.
To them, information is a means to an end, not an end in
itself. […] When used well, the data can extend citizens’
reach in their efforts to improve results in their
communities.
Epstein, Paul D., Paul M. Coates, and Lyle D. Wray.
2005.

15. Big Data

16. wired.com

17. Collaborative Rationality
Diversity, Interdependency, Authentic Dialogue

18. Interdependency

19. flickr: zeno7