Michael "Miko" Cañares

This year marks the 10th year since I started researching on open data. Some 10 years ago, I wrote, in the context of the Philippines, that

On the supply side, incentivising openness is a critical aspect in ensuring that local governments have the interest to disclose financial data.
…….On the demand side, there is limited awareness on the part of the public, and more particularly the intermediaries (e.g. business groups, civil society organizations, research institutions), on the availability of data and, thus, its limited use.

Opening the Gates: Will Open Data
Initiatives Make Local Governments in
the Philippines More Transparent?

This year, I wrote an update to the State of Open Data in South, East, and Southeast Asia, and I was struck to see that the messaging remains the same.

The road from data availability to impact will remain tenuous for South, East and Southeast Asia without an enabling environment that allows easy access to quality data, facilitates understanding and capability to translate information to actionable insights, and promotes innovative solutions to public problem-solving.¹³ Thus, for open data in the region to progress, there is a need to create incentives for better quality data and greater openness on the part of governments, as well as more targeted interventions to promote data reuse.

State of Open Data in
South, East, and Southeast Asia
in State of Open Data: Histories and Horizons (2nd edition)

I argued in the chapter, that not much has changed. Four years ago, I wrote that open data initiatives in the region were primarily focused on supply-side interventions. Except for a few countries, they mainly targeted the central government level. Data reuse was concentrated in the region’s more affluent economies. Four years on, things remain pretty much the same. In 2022, using data from the Global Data Barometer (GDB), Yusuf and Chung reached almost the same findings as I did in my original chapter. They found that data capacities, including an enabling environment and a skilled bureaucracy and citizenry, do not necessarily translate to impact, hampered largely by the large gap between data availability and reuse.

I outline in the chapter why i thought this was the case. Click on the link below to know more.

https://www.d4d.net/state-of-open-data/chapters/regions/seasia/v2