Project Syndicate: Making Open Data a Reality
Thoai Ngo, director of the Poverty, Gender, and Youth (PGY) Program at the Population Council and director of the Council’s Girl Innovation, Research and Learning (GIRL) Center

“…[T]he prevailing policy approach to promoting open data — if you mandate it, they will share … — is not working. To bring about change, researchers themselves must embrace data sharing. And to do that, we need the right information and incentives. … Beyond better incentives for researchers and donors, a fundamental shift in the culture of science is needed to accelerate scientific progress … We believe that open data can accelerate research transparency and innovative solutions that have a meaningful impact on the lives of the largest-ever generation of adolescents … And we believe that as open-data practices become more widespread, the benefits of sharing and collaboration that they enable will extend much further” (8/8).