Open Data Serving Culture and Sustainable Development

TWO EVENTS WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY 26 MAY AT THE OPENSIDE AREA, ORGANIZED BY THE ASK CENTER AND IN COLLABORATION WITH BOCCONI ARTS CAMPUS. THEY ARE PART OF THE 2017 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FESTIVAL PROMOTED BY ASVIS, THE ITALIAN AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

The recent focus on the phenomenon of open data is gradually also involving the area of culture, in addition to affecting the relationship between the public administration and citizens. This topic will be discussed on 26 May, from 10:30am to 5:30pm, at Bocconi Openside, during two different events.

“In a strict sense, open data refers to any data that can be used, reused and redistributed freely by anyone for any purpose,” explains Aura Bertoni, of the Bocconi ASK Center. “In a broader sense, open data is a philosophy and a practice that sees free access to data as important opportunities to support the development of new knowledge and encourage participation.”

Beyond Digitization: The (re)use of open cultural data is the title of the morning event, offering a panorama of the open data phenomenon in the culture sector. At first, the movement of open cultural data began to make cultural institutions more accessible (OpenGLAM) through the online dissemination of digital collections (artifacts, images and texts) and related metadata (such as authors and titles), to then encourage creative reuse. Today, the class of open cultural data includes other data developed by archives, libraries and museums, data from public administrations, as well as data from various players involved in cultural production and distribution, including independent centers, informal entities and private organizations.

“By dedicating an event to this topic, we take the first step in an exploration of the phenomenon of open data in culture, its economic and social sustainability and its relationship with tourism. On one hand, the issue requires study of accessibility under a technical profile and legitimacy of reuse under a legal profile, but on the other hand, it requires considerations of open data as a philosophy aimed at promoting new views of cultural content and new uses of digital information assets,” adds Paola Dubini, President of Bocconi Arts Campus.

In the afternoon, starting at 2:30pm, Open Data: Transparency, civic participation and sustainable growth will be held in Italian, organized by ASK in collaboration with Prioritalia. It will explore the potential of open data for defining public services and policies, increasing transparency, creating new spaces for participation of civil society and reducing the costs of existing services and supporting the creation of new digital services, businesses and innovation.

“The construction of a new dialogue between citizens and the public administration is being requested,” says Bertoni. “This means that, for many documents, information and public data, organizations should no longer wait for citizens to ask, but are called upon to publish anything in their possession.”
 
 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Jenna Walker