Engagement with data communities

To develop the dynamic relationship between data publishers and data users, we need to think about not just the user's engagement with the data and data platforms, but also engagement with those who steward the data.

Considerations for engaging data user communities:

• Aims: to attract new audiences, to raise awareness of your data service/platform/publications, to stimulate new ideas for the data, or to gain feedback and suggestions for improvement.

• Methods: comments and engagements on blogs, promotion on consumer support channels, raising awareness on community web pages and forums, and live discussions on social media platforms.

Examples of data community engagement for social good

• Data.Org Resource Library. Guides to help you understand why your organisation should leverage data for social impact and how to get started. https://data.org/library/

• Carbon Brief’s Global South Climate Database is a publicly available, searchable database of scientists and experts in the fields of climate science, policy and energy. https://www.carbonbrief.org/global-south-climate-database/

PODCAST: The importance of community engagement to data collaborations

In this podcast, host James Maddison, Senior Consultant at the ODI, has a conversation with Laureen van Breen, Managing Director at WikiRate; Kisha Bwenge, Senior Community Building Manager at the Open Contracting Partnership; and Tim Robertson, Head of Informatics at Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

They discuss their experiences of the ODI Microsoft peer-learning network, an initiative which aims to give data collaborations working on significant societal challenges the opportunity to share and learn from each other.

Podcast link: https://www.theodi.org/article/podcast-the-importance-of-community-engagement-to-data-collaborations/