I presented last week at the OECD World Forum in Istanbul along with Professor Hans Rosling, Mike Arrington, John Gage and teams from MappingWorlds, Swivel (disclosure: I am an adviser to Swivel) and Many Eyes. We were the “Web2.0 Delegation” and it was an incredible experience.
The Istanbul Declaration signed at the conference calls for governments to make their statistical data freely available online as a “public good.” The declaration also calls for new measures of happiness and well-being, going beyond just economic output and GDP. This requires the creation of new tools, which the OECD envisions will be “wiki for progress.” Expect to hear more about these initiatives soon.
This data combined with new tools like Swivel and MappingWorlds is powerful. Previously this information was hard to acquire and the tools to analyze it were expensive and hard to use, which limited it’s usefulness. Now, regular people can access, visualize and discuss this data. Creating an environment where knowledge can be shared and explored.
H.G. Wells predicted that “Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read or write.” Proponents of specific public policies often use statistics to support their view. They have the ability to select the data to fit with the policy. Democratization of statistics allows citizens to see the data that doesn’t fit the policy, giving the public the power to challenge policymakers with new interpretations.
I highly recommend you watch Professor Rosling’s exceptional summary of these exciting changes (where I got the title for this post), as well as his talks at TED.