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Ecosystems

Open data initiatives tend to be more successful and avoid the notion of, “if you build it, will they come,” when they are clearly optimized for an intended audience or user base from the start. The upfront identification, mapping and understanding of relevant constituencies, and a similar examination of their needs can enable more targeted open data-driven interventions.

Once you’ve started to engage with your stakeholders, we recommend you create a data ecosystem map. A data ecosystem consists of the organisations, communities and people that might create and benefit from the value created by your datasets. A data ecosystem map illustrates the value exchanges in an ecosystem.

This map can be used both as a practical planning tool to manage your data ecosystem, and for communication and advocacy to demonstrate the opportunities for increasing value to particular parts of the ecosystem.

When creating a data ecosystem map, we recommend reflecting on the problem your initiative is trying to tackle. Try to frame this problem in a particular data-focused use case to optimise the mapping exercise and identify the gaps that might be addressed by building data infrastructure.

The following is an example ecosystem map for a challenge project around reducing snakebite mortality and morbidity in India:

Ecosystem map for a challenge project on reducing snakebite in India.

Tool: Create a data ecosystem map

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