About
We surveyed the state of data to address urgent societal issues for the benefit of all.
An Overview
The GDB
The Global Data Barometer is a collaborative project that aims to measure the state of data in relation to urgent societal issues. Together with regional hubs and thematic partners, we seek to appraise data availability, governance, capability and use around the world to help shape data infrastructures that limit risks and harms in climate action, company information, health and COVID-19, land, political integrity, public finance and public procurement.
We started developing the Global Data Barometer in 2019 to respond to the needs expressed at the 2019 Open Government Partnership summit for updated, in-depth, country-level insights on data governance and availability. In 2020, we began consulting on the study design and created a network that comprised of regional research hubs and thematic partners.
The Tool
The tool we have designed—the Barometer—is an open access tool that further investigates data policies and practices in its governance, release and use for the public good.
Building on the Open Data Barometer, which has been used to drive policymaking, advocacy, and academic research, we now ask the question: To what extent are countries managing data for the public good?
The Barometer aims to answer this by incorporating quantitative and qualitative measures, drawing on primary data collected through a survey implemented by our international network of partners and researchers, as well as data from existing secondary sources, and a complementary government survey.
Our goals
To power critical research
Our predecessor project, the Open Data Barometer, has been cited more than 1200 times and has provided the data for critical comparative studies and research. We plan to deliver improvements that will support the creation of new research and reports.
A collaborative, open project
Our network of regional hubs aim to be centres of excellence on data for the public good. We’re working in the open as much as we can: sharing our methods and data under an open license and consulting widely on study design.
More than the sum of its parts
The evidence we gather through our peer-reviewed expert survey will furnish a macro view of national policy and practice around data for the public good to provide actionable insights.