Data isn’t about technology.

It’s about delivering relevant, scalable and economically

efficient services designed around the end user, citizens, customer, whatever.

Data then is a tool for local authorities to improve their own performance.

And it’s an exciting tool too.

We’re currently in the early stages of an unusual yet wonderful coming together of
top-down and bottom-up minds surrounding open democracy. (The social innovation
hub that is blossoming in Somerset House is a brilliant example of this).

In May last year, David Cameron wrote to all cabinet members demanding “rapid
progress” towards a more transparent government.

From CLG this has manifested itself, most noticeably, in the release of all council
spending figures over £500 - which most have done however, it’s mostly buried in
dark corners of council websites and/or stuck behind  un-remixable files.

So local authorities have put the data out there but not all of it is very accessible - it
is mostly thanks to the remarkable work of OpenlyLocal that the information is
becoming useful and useable to the rest of us.

However, as officers get more practice and enjoyment in releasing data, and the
open-source developers get more experience and (I really do hope) more funding in
their work (Francis Maude believes open government data will create a £6 billion
industry) - then we need agents for change inside local authorities to push for further
transformations towards more open government and do all we can to nurture a
competitive market for developers to earn a living from their skills -

And it’s largely through collaborations between these two groups, the agents for
change and the developers, that we can really start building some valuable and
sustainable projects and improving a local authorities performance - which is what
this make a difference with data website is all about.

So how is and how can data make a difference? Quite simply, open government is
more effective and cost-efficient. The participants who opt into open data initiatives
are more passionate, committed, and driven and have genuine concern for the well-
being of their local area - as personified in Will’s comments earlier.

Where is data making a difference? The GLA, Lichfield, Warwickshire, Bristol,

Sunderland and Brighton and many other local authorities have been working with
these passionate, committed and driven individuals to release data sets and turn
their information into something useful.

But this usefulness doesn’t have to just work one way.

By allowing citizens to remix, mashup and share data easily back with the council,
we can build conversations, cheaper collaboration, and produce local solutions to
what are, very local problems. (It is therefore in the council’s best interest to harvest
the wisdom of the crowd.)

Finally, why is data making a difference? By offering us the opportunity to play a

more participatory role with local democracy, councils can enable and empower
different spheres of democratic engagement to work together -  pro-actively
producing more vibrant, innovative, re-energised communities (and councillors and
local government officers) who are better suited to take on more control and
responsibility of their local services.

As I said, data is quite an exciting tool.

So what I would like is for this site to become a space blossoming with real life local
examples of data having an positive impact within local democracy, for it to become
that external reference point where agents for change inside local authorities can go
to comfort themselves that what they’re doing is right and i would like the site to seed
a community in which we can all the network, support and influence the release of
data so that it’s delivered in ways to the end user that really do make a difference.