Open data, which is data that is made freely open to everyone to access. Throughout the data revolution, open data has been changing what global aid looks like. A TED Talk that I watched recently explains how this is the case (“How open data is changing international aid” by Sanjay Pradhan, June 2012).

According to Pradhan, there have been three big ways in which open data has made global aid more efficient and effective.

#1: Open Knowledge

Essentially, developing countries are no longer relying on developed countries to provide them knowledge about public issues happening in their region. With newfound access to open data, even countries with less funding can run their own experiments and studies, allowing them to get insights about the aid they need to focus on (whether for infrastructure, pollution control, poverty, hunger, employment, etc). This allows developing countries to answer certain questions for themselves, without having to be dependent on developed countries. Questions like where is the aid needed, when is the aid needed, how is the aid needed are now actionable by these countries independently.

#2: Open Aid

Now, I think Pradhan’s wording here is a bit confusing because how can open aid be one of the ways open data is helping aid? That sentence seems a bit twisted. But as Pradhan explains, open data is allowing us to hone in on the questions discussed above. We can now get even clearer insights into exactly what needs to be done regarding aid to make the most benefit in the world and help the most people. For example, geomapping has been used recently to pinpoint areas that are more in need of aid that others. That’s a powerful tool if you consider how hard it must be to choose which parts of the world to prioritize giving aid to, knowing that whatever choice you make could result in someone else not getting the aid they need.

#3: Open Governance

This was Pradhan’s most interesting point throughout the talk. Open governance allows the public to make more decisions regarding policy. This is being done in two major ways. On one hand, governments are making their own data more readily available to the public. This could look like governments releasing more information regarding income breakdowns to give the public more context in how they vote for budgetary decisions. On the other hand, open data gives the people a “louder” voice with which they are more likely to be “heard” by the government. For example, in Tanzania, open source phone data was used to make entire maps of nearby communities. People were then able to use these maps to provide realtime feedback about which health and water points weren’t working, allowing the Tanzanian government to locate and fix these issues more quickly.

Through open knowledge, open aid, and open governance, Pradhan shows how impactful open data is in turning transparency into action. When data is open, aid can become a real conversation.