As all studious web watchers know, the next wave of internet innovation has been brewing for some time, as massive amounts of data has been pumped onto the web and made available for people to share-and-compare, play with and link to. Yes, prepare yourselves people, The Web Of Data is on the way. A world in which databases sit out on the web instead of behind firewalls, allowing new powerful styles of collaboration. For corporations that have built competitive advantage around IP and black box business models the idea of data being open on the web is, to say the least, a bit scary. However, in reality, it's just the next step along the journey that the web is inviting the world to take. Initially, the notion of sharing documents on the web seemed unwise, then opening up personal information on social networks appeared risky. But both have quickly become the norm, and of course are made up of data. So this next evolution is just more of the same. None of which will stop the corporate fear rising however. In the same way that strange ideas emerged about the dangers of sharing company information using simple social media tools, peculiar fears will surface at the prospect of sharing databases that have previously been held under lock, key and firewall. In fact, many of these fears are based on misconceptions and misguided analysis. For instance, in the corporate world ‘open’ is often translated as ‘anarchic’. Despite the fact that, as with blogs and social networks, there is plenty of control built into new 'open' systems. For example, if you don't want the crazies to...
...muck up your corporate blog, just moderate them out. And the same is true of open data. The use of APIs allows streams of data to be shared in ways that contribute positively to influential web culture - without fear of the walls tumbling down. It's not a question of forgetting everything you know and leaving the keys to your company's safe hanging in reception.
As Tim Berners-Lee puts it: 'This doesn't mean all data should and will be free -- you decide what's open and in the public realm and what stays behind a firewall. But the decision not to trade data should be because you don't want to, and not because your data just doesn't understand the other party's.'
As ever, the crucial exercise is the application of strategy to work effectively with the cultural forces that open data will unleash. However challenging some of those forces may feel. Because, not surprisingly, a failure to pay attention to the open culture in which your customers are increasingly immersed, eventually makes you look out-of-touch. Which creates opportunities for others to introduce themselves.
Just think about the way in which the music industry focused on the technology, ignored the culture and in doing so relinquished control of most of its distribution system to a third party. However, despite such powerful warning signs, making the case for engaging with the open participative culture being driven by today’s web - within some corporate walls - remains difficult.
In the UK, the current MPs' expenses splurge-of-shame is a devastating example of a powerful, influential organisation being badly damaged by insisting on the maintenance of black box systems that are suddenly levered open and laid bare to the world. The splendid Douglas Galbi, writing about open data in a different context, states the case in a way that rings strangely true as the Daily Telegraph opens the window on a musty Parliament and its reluctance to share:
"One can easily imagine business reasons for not making data public. Data costs money to collect and maintain. Others shouldn't be able to get it for free. Selling limited access to data can serve as a source of business revenue. Making data public might reveal some information that would be better not to reveal. If others gain access to the data, they might figure out how to compete more effectively with your business. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt can prompt organizations to do nothing, say nothing, share nothing.
Making data public can be a good business practice. Making data public enhances the credibility of data through widespread, independent review of it. Making data public can raise an organization's business profile and foster its association with valuable knowledge. Making data public can lead to further development of an industry. Making data public contributes to the stock of public knowledge that will endure and grow forever. That's a noble project in which everyone can and should play a part."
Indeed. Corporations and organisations that do not engage with the culture that is being driven by the open web may not find themselves exposed quite as brutally as Lord Hogg (I know) whose tax-payer funded, moat-cleaning activities have left UK voters aghast. However, they do run the risk of becoming trapped in corporate towers, behind company moats, as people stare back at them and wonder why it is they don't want to share.
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