Open data and COVID-19 crisis
Following the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, countries across the world have adapted to a new sense of normal. To continue combating the proliferation of the pandemic, societies have been utilising data to inform policy makers and create applications and services. In conformity with these efforts, the European Data Portal (EDP) launched a dedicated section for COVID-19 on the portal that showcases relevant and topical datasets, initiatives, reports and articles on the disease. During the summer of 2020, the team continued to engage with stakeholders in the open data community. In collaboration with the Support Centre for Data Sharing (SCDS), experts host fortnightly Data Talk sessions, free of charge, with individuals working with or in the open data space. These sessions are free of charge, recorded and shared on the EDP and SCDS channels. Some of the talks were dedicated to presenting various successful experiences such as Insights from data.overheid.nl – with insights from the Dutch National Open Data Portal, the Power of Data in the Everlasting Battle: Humanity vs. Virus – with insights from selected writers behind the EDP for COVID-19 Data Stories, Health and Data Sharing – with Ismail Ismail discussing the value of data sharing for healthcare in the EU, AI and Journalism – with Mathias-Felipe de Lima Santos and Florencia Coelho sharing insights on how La Nacion looked at new technologies to improve news reporting in Argentina to map solar farms.
The EDP team also published several reports, including a set of reports on “The Sustainability of (Open) Data Portal Infrastructures”, which are complemented by a series of featured highlights on the different papers and a study titled “From Regulation to Adoption: The Drivers of Data Sharing”” on open data and data sharing incentives in Europe.
Compiled by Media 21 Foundation from: https://www.europeandataportal.eu/en/newsletter/edition-17-september-2020
