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Automated Metrics |
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Overall Progress this Milestone
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Identified 5 data improvements for this quarter
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See below |
Primary Uses
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USAID budget and expenditure data continues to be of use to civil society organizations, government agencies, and the general public. The data is used by public interest groups interested in analyzing the allocation of USAID’s resources geographically as well as by program area. It is also used by transparency advocacy groups. For example, USAID moved from “Fair” to “Good” in the Publish What You Fund “2015 U.S. Aid Transparency Review” based on the increasing level of granularity with which it publishes foreign assistance data. It is also used by other development organizations to facilitate collaboration on the ground. One organization, for example, is planning to use farm level plot polygons with detailed cropping statistics tied to each plot to inform their existing analysis efforts. This sort of data sharing helps eliminate inefficiencies in the development community caused by duplication of effort and promotes efficiencies by making it easier to join forces to address particular development issues. |
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Value or impact of data
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Primary data discovery channels
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USAID continues to monitor questions submitted through StackExchange, GitHub or USAID’s open data email account. In order to begin the process of building a community of users for USAID data, USAID sponsored its very first hackathon with a focus on data related to the worsening crime situation in Latin America. The event attracted over 100 participants from approximately 50 organizations worldwide. Several other USAID missions in the region are now considering putting on their own hackathons. In addition, representatives of the USAID “open data team” give briefings at other USAID sponsored events attended by potential data users. This includes, for example, a speaking engagement by USAID’s Chief Data Officer at the Brookings Institution in May; a meeting of USAID HIV Implementation Science Investigators in September, and an upcoming Management Bureau partners meeting scheduled for December. |
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User suggestions on improving data usability
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Visitors to the USAID /data page (its Development Data Library) early in the open data era found the lack of an effective search function an obstacle to finding datasets of interest. Although USAID had plans to develop a new platform for its open data, the urgency of the request prompted an interim solution now in place with some search capability as well as a better display of relevant metadata. Work under a new contract to build the more functional platform started this quarter. Data analysts skilled in the use of a variety of statistical packages asked that data be posted in the formats of those packages, not only in non-proprietary formats, to enable them to skip the step of rebuilding the files. This is now standard practice. USAID is also working with OMB to ensure its open data procurement language benefits from feedback through the federal rule-making process. Based on customer feedback, the proposed rule includes a requirement to ensure all datasets are accompanied by code books or data dictionaries. |
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User suggestions on additional data releases
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USAID receives questions for data on programs in specific countries or regions of countries; for example the farm dataset in Senegal (mentioned above), education of girls in Afghanistan and energy sector data for Indonesia. This past September, USAID scheduled a series of consultations with its implementing partners who are primary potential users of USAID data as well as generators of the data that now has to be submitted to USAID. Among the many suggestions and ideas emerging from these consultations is the notion that USAID improve and expand upon its feedback to partners on the way datasets are being used and analyzed by others in order to stimulate their own plans for analysis of the data made public through the Development Data Library. Based on these consultations, USAID also plans to issue guidance on how to create data management plans and best practices on data protection. |
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Digital Analytics Program on /data
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