Yesterday the fabulous Leeds Data Mill ran an event for people working in healthcare to consider the role of open data. Participants were challenged to imagine a future where people are in control of their health data and to consider what the consequences might be for individuals and for health services.
As someone petrified beyond reason by maths, data, stats and pretty much everything number related (mostly as a result of maths lessons in schools) I felt a bit of a fraud when invited to speak at the event. But I needn’t have worried. Our mHealthHabitat programme is one small piece of a jigsaw that is seeing Leeds do some interesting things around health and wellbeing innovation through digital. Leeds Data Mill enables open data to be held, shared and used in one place. The Leeds node of Open Data Institute is a place for people to come together and work on data and digital projects. And these are just a few initiatives of many – Tim Straughan and Dylan Roberts shared the wider vision of Leeds as a smart city.
My number fears were misplaced because rather than talk statistics we spent the day telling stories – tales and metaphors and anecdotes that brought data to life, made it meaningful, and made it relevant to each of us. More than open data, we had open conversations.
Kate from Patient Opinion told us how telling stories in public spaces can and often do directly influence service change for the better. The open and social nature of storytelling on their site holds healthcare organisations to account and afford transparency.
We also heard notes of caution about the uneven distribution of innovations such as wearable technologies which create digital shadows in deprived areas; we heard how the launch of Apple’s Health Kit and Android equivalents signal a move towards the mainstream rather than digital as sole preserve of quantified-self geeks; we heard how NHS England is creating a blueprint for accelerating the use of open data in health and social care.
Of course open data isn’t the answer to everything, but Tom Riordan made a compelling case that it is a means of cutting through traditional barriers of organisational silos to collaborate on big issues which affect our city. Tom argued that open data is not a fad and that our desire as citizens for openness and transparency means that organisations have to run in way way in which we ‘wouldn’t mind if people were watching.’
And to finish on a story – the council has collected data on footfall using twelve sensor points around the city for the last ten years. That data has always been hidden, just for use by the planning department to plan new retail developments and so on. But now it is available to anyone to view, interrogate and understand – open to citizens, to start-up business, and to big corporates. More even distribution through more openness. That’s how you make data meaningful.
Victoria