Build or support organisations and communities

Organisations are responsible for stewarding and creating governance around the data assets that are part of our data infrastructure. They are usually trying to create value for people from data, by providing services, products or decisions for communities. Organisations that govern and steward data infrastructure include governments, commercial and public organisations, third sector, and community and voluntary groups.

We usually talk about communities as being those who are impacted by decisions that are made by the organisations mentioned above, but many are actively involved as well, like the Wikipedia community of contributors who create, fund and maintain the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Communities might need to access, use or rely on data for a multitude of purposes. Communities could also be those that support organisations by contributing their expertise around data or by helping to collaboratively maintain a data asset, like a register.

Data access initiatives building, creating and supporting organisations and communities include: INSIGHT – stakeholders from across the NHS have established a separate data institution – the Health Data Research Hub for Eye Health – to transform the way that eye diseases are diagnosed, treated and managed in the UK and elsewhere Open Data Leaders Network – open data leaders within government from around the world join together as part of this community, to learn from each other and identify how open data can benefit their organisations and citizens Microsoft’s Open Data Campaign peer learning network – Microsoft and the ODI are supporting 10 data collaborations, helping them explore the benefits of data and the new technologies it powers