In the decade since open data first broke onto the global stage, thousands of programs and projects around the world have worked to open data and use it to address a myriad of social and economic challenges. Meanwhile, issues related to data rights and privacy have moved to the centre of public and political discourse.

As the open data movement enters a new phase in its evolution, shifting to target real-world problems and embed open data thinking into other existing or emerging communities of practice, big questions still remain. How will open data initiatives respond to new concerns about privacy, inclusion, and artificial intelligence? And what can we learn from the last decade in order to deliver impact where it is most needed? The State of Open Data brings together more than 60 authors from around the world to address these questions and to take stock of the real progress made to date across sectors and around the world, uncovering the issues that will shape the future of open data in the years to come.

For further information, go to the online resource for The State of Open Data.

The editors

Tim Davies is an activist, researcher, and social entrepreneur who has been working on themes related to open data since 2009. He was research lead for the first two years of the IDRC/World Wide Web Foundation’s research network Exploring the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries, and he coordinated the first two editions of the global Open Data Barometer. A social researcher by training, Davies was a fellow of the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society and he studied at the Oxford Internet Institute and the University of Southampton’s Web Science Centre.

Stephen B. Walker is the former director general responsible for leading open government and open data for the Government of Canada, where he developed and implemented national policies, programs, and infrastructure to advance open data. More recently, he worked with the Open Data for Development Network (OD4D) and managed the International Open Data Conference. Walker also runs his own consulting company, True North Consulting, specializing in advancing open data and transparency policies and practices.

Mor Rubinstein is an open data practitioner. She is currently the Labs Manager for 360Giving, a UK initiative for opening up philanthropic grants data for better grantmaking. She is also the co-founder and coordinator of the Open Heroines community, a global community for women in open data, open government, and civic tech. She holds a Master of Science in Social Science of the Internet from the Oxford Internet Institute.

Fernando Perini is a senior program officer at IDRC, where he coordinates the Open Data for Development (OD4D) program. OD4D is a global partnership that supports Southern leadership and locally led data ecosystems around the world as a way to spur positive social change and sustainable development.