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30.11.2011 General News

Journalists, others receive education on open data

By Phyllis D. Osabutey - Ghanaian Chronicle
Dr. Grace Bediako, Government StatisticianDr. Grace Bediako, Government Statistician
30.11.2011 LISTEN

The Population  Council (PC), Ghana, has  engaged various institutions, including tertiary institutions staff and students and journalists on the production and consumption of demographic, health and development data sharing and use in Ghana.

In view of the recognition of the importance of open data, a Professor in Population Studies at the University of Cape Coast, Kofi Awusabo-Asare, said data available in Ghana include institutional data such as those of hospitals, schools, and ministries among the Ghana Demographic Health Survey and National censuses.

According to him, there was a lot of data, but the issue remained how Ghanaians were using such open data, which called for collaboration between institutions such as among universities, to share and use data for development.

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting in Accra, last Tuesday, he pointed out that though the PC was not making a direct input into the Right To Information (RTI) bill that would ensure a more proactive access and sharing of data, it was providing the platform for further discussions on the subject by various stakeholders.

He said, when the law is finally passed, it would be important for the demand side to be vibrant, because low or no demand would indicate to government a lack of interest that would prevent the proactive disclosure of data.

The Government Statistician, Dr. Grace Bediako, touching on 'The Role of Statistics in the Programming of National Development,' said everyone needs statistics, but the applications of such statistics were different for various institutions, and in different formats.

She also indicated that there was abundance of information, more than could be used in wide variations, but there still existed substantial gaps such as the difficulty in accessing available data, inadequate effort by users to explicitly define what they want, or even provide feedback on their experience with data.

She identified some sources of data as administrative records, registration systems, including business and civil, national censuses, sample surveys of households, as well as various sources under specific subjects like economics, social and environmental data among others.

She pointed out that data availability depended on who one was dealing with, hence, individuals, institutions and other agencies should all share ideas on how best to access and share data for development.

In her view, there was the need to tackle the particular challenge of accessibility to expand access, and adopt flexible approaches to handling the release of data and its sharing among interested parties, including individuals.

On the topic of 'Data Journalism', a renowned journalist from South Africa, Justin Arenstein of the International Centre for Journalists, noted that data was only useful if it could be relevant to people.

As such, journalists' roles were changing to the extent that they have to take mass data and put it into small stories for people to appreciate, saying, 'data is not just numbers, but linking pieces of information together, and telling people why it is important.'

Thus, there was the need to use visualisations that would enhance understanding and capture the attention of the target audience, especially, with regards to government budgetary information to tell people how their money was being used.

He stressed that though the government budget was usually long, technical and a boring report, journalists could make it simpler, and turn it into what people could use, because data gives people the tools to give feedback to the government, concerning the use of public funds.

Also, he said, new media such as the use of mobile phones and the internet was making the cost of data low, hence people were moving away from the traditional media, and so it was necessary that media houses start using new media like blogs and others.

'Journalists are terrified at numbers, but data journalism is not just numbers, and so journalists have to diversify their business models to stimulate people to use data that they are producing for social good,' he maintained.

He concluded that there was also wealth of information about the country locked outside the of the country in top world agencies that could be accessed by journalists to ask questions within the country, and generate stories that would, for instance, reveal disparities between data released by the government to outside agencies and those within the country.

The participants were drawn from the National Population Council, various media houses, Ghana Institute of Journalism, Ghana Statistical Service, National Accreditation Board, Wa, Tamale and Navrongo Polytechnics, University of Development Studies, University of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Central University College, and Kintampo Health Research Centre among others.

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