Skip to main content

Open Data in Trinidad and Tobago

Image
By
What is open data? Open data is free to use and share and made available in standard formats that facilitate this. The data is available without legal, technological or social restrictions.

Why open data? At a high level we are looking at ease and facilitating data driven decision making and its benefits. We looking at accountability, efficiency and innovation. The open knowledge foundation does a good job of answering this question in their open data handbook under why open data?

As a coder and web developer, I am particularly interested in the apps, visualisations and infographics, among other things, that can be created. At the recently held GDG POS firebase study jam I saw examples of how the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Health covid-19 stats could be nicely graphed and filtered. That data had to be scraped and manually entered instead of being accessible in an open data format.

We are ranked 67th (out of 94) in the 2016 Global Open Data Index with a score of 21%. That is pretty dismal and leaves a lot of room for improvement. From the Open Data Barometer website we see that the data exist and most is available online BUT not in machine readable and useable format. We have data.gov.tt and data.tt with very little to show. Where is CSO in all of this? They have a nice enough website and platform and some useful stats. Can't be too hard to extend this. Every Ministry should be mandated to provide at least 10 open data feeds as part of their website development to get the ball rolling so to speak.

While researching for this blog post I came across this link that says that Trinidad and Tobago has been withdrawn from the Open Government Partnership. It states that, "This decision follows the 2018 resolution of the OGP Steering Committee to designate Trinidad and Tobago as inactive in OGP due to failure to deliver an action plan since 2016." Open data is a big part of open government.

Open data and open government are things that we should be prioritising. The benefits and needs are clear but we seem to be lacking the will power and guidance. I want to see a dedicated Minister of Technology. Someone who appreciates the importance of open data and who could pick up the slack.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to measure success?

By
It is 509pm and I have decided to write. How to measure success? That is the question. It is very hard to measure success. I think only God has the true measure of success or failure. Someone may be a failure in this life but a success in the next life. We are told that God looks at intentions and effort. We can also determine our own definition of success. We do not have to let the world define success for us. We think of the world as not being a fair place so any one size fits all definitions of success or failure would be careless and wrong. Many times we think in terms of numbers. The grander the better. But what about quality over quantity? My friend tells me that I am essentially arguing for the democratization of success. I am taking the power away from society, institutions, and algorithms, and handing it back to the individual and God. That is true but I am essentially wanting to look at the bigger picture and to do that I am thinking that we have to answer some key questions ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rainy afternoon thoughts

By
It is 220pm and I have decided to write. The rain is falling. I can hear it on the roof. It is gloomy outside but inside is nice and cozy in my favorite corner. I have no idea what I want to write about. I will start by saying God is good. Always. The islamic new year starts tonight in Trinidad. I am happy about that. Another milestone. Another opportunity to grow better. My friend Chatty asks me, what has God been teaching me lately? God has been teaching me patience. How to remain calm. How to appreciate my flaws. My flaws keep me humble. Let go and let God. He also asks, what am I hoping for? Sometimes I think about writing more tech blog posts. How can tech make the country better? How can tech make the world better? But I remember writing about the Arima smart city project and concluding that smart cities need smart people. Human development is very important. If people are not developing then what is the use of it all. How can technology help people become better? It all starts i...
Post a Comment
Read more

The answer is God

By
It is 308pm and I have decided to write. Make God a priority. Let God lead the way. Let everything be about God. Let God into your life. Surround yourself with God and watch how everything begins to make sense. This life is not an accident. This life is not happenstance. This life is the work of an all-powerful Creator. Nothing is too big or too small for God. Take your problems to God. Take your worries to God. Take your fears to God. Let go and let God. Submit to the will of God. The more you go to God, the more He comes to you. Start small. Start somewhere. Give God a chance if you have not done so already. Why do I say all of this? There are many things competing for your attention and your soul. In the midst of all of this, the world can seem like a confusing place where many things do not make sense. God brings clarity. God brings clarity because God sits above it all. You may think you do not need God until you do. Ask yourself, who is the wisest you know? If God is not the wise...
Post a Comment
Read more