Providing training, consultancy, helpdesk, and advice to:

• Organisations building and maintaining open data standards
• Organisations publishing open data
• Organisations using open data

Building, developing and maintaining software that:

• Enable organisations to publish open data
• Enable organisations to understand the nature, volume and quality of open data
• Enable organisations to use their own open data
• Enable organisations to use other open data resources

At Open Data Services we like projects that combine innovation and engagement to deliver sustainable social impact with open data. For smaller projects, we support organisations with facilitation, workshops, development and research. For larger projects, we work in long-term partnerships, providing the technical know-how, community engagement and capacity building needed make open data initiatives work effectively. We enjoy challenges that combine inclusive conversation, co-operation and practical action.

Here are some of the projects we’ve been working on recently:

Open Data Standards

Enabling insights, engagement and decision making with open data by developing and supporting robust open data standards.

• We manage the global help-desk for the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) including technical infrastructure, data standard governance, and providing ongoing engagement with government, civil societies and organisations implementing Open Contracting.
• We’re working with the World Bank Open Contracting team to develop an extension to the Open Contracting Data Standard to improve disclosure of data about Public Private Partnerships.
• We support 360Giving, a data standard that helps grant-making organisations publish what they fund. We run the UK help-desk, working with organisations to see the opportunities in their data and to publish to the standard.

Data Quality and Capacity

Building organisational capacity in to advocate for, publish and use high quality data.

• We’ve worked with organisations including Bond, SlovakAid, and Plan International UK to support and develop their capacity to publish and use data as part of the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).
• We’re supporting the Initiative for Open Ag Funding with interventions to improve the data landscape on funding for agriculture and food security across the world.
• We’ve undertaken research for the Financial Transparency Coalition on open data opportunities for data on beneficial ownership and tax transparency.
• We’ve helped Big Lottery think through their plans for core data including drafting a policy and developing a plan for their core data.

Data Literacy at the local level

Assisting organisations with publishing and using open data in their communities.

• As part of our commitment to helping organisations adopt effective data policies, we produce and maintain the template open data policy, a free resource for organisations and communities starting out or improving their open data policy.

Tools and Analysis

Developing open source tools and platforms to make data easy to create, analyse and understand.

• We’re developing a tool to transform and validate data. We call it CoVE (Convert, Validate, Explore), and use it to support a growing number of data standards.
• We’re building up a range of tools and practices that make it easier to maintain a data standard.
• To help publishers, data users and the public explore, visualise and ask effective questions about 360Giving data, we are developing a tool called GrantNav.
• Working with the Natural Resource Governance Institute, we developed rapid-prototypes of a set of tools to gather information on oil, gas and mining projects across the world, providing the foundations for ResourceProjects.org.

How can we help you?

Interested in working with us on your project?
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