LogoLogo
The Fundamentals of Data-driven Storytelling
An IntroduIf it worked for Ection to Data LiteracyThe Fundamentals of Data-driven StorytellingProcurement Data Crash Course
The Fundamentals of Data-driven Storytelling
An IntroduIf it worked for Ection to Data LiteracyThe Fundamentals of Data-driven StorytellingProcurement Data Crash Course
  • About this course
    • Course Introduction
  • Module 1 - Find
    • 1.1 How to Find Data for Storytelling and journalism
      • Starting with a question
      • Open data portals and platforms
      • Other sources of data
    • 1.2 How to get better data from a Goolge Search
      • Searching for filetypes and formats
      • More on Advanced Search operators
      • Other common Google Search operators
    • 1.3 Sourcing your own data
      • Creating a Google Form for Research
      • Creating a questionnaire with TypeForm
      • Using quizzes and comments as a sources of data
  • Module 2 - Get
    • 2.1 Turning websites and PDFs into machine readable data
      • Scraping data with Tabula
    • 2.2 An introduction to spreadsheet software
      • Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel and Libre Office Calc.
      • Finding your way around a spreadsheet
      • Simple web scraping with Google Sheets
  • Module 3 - Verify
    • 3.1 Can I use this data in my work?
      • Initial steps for verification
      • What do these column headings mean?
  • Module 4 - Clean
    • 4.1 What to do with disorganised data?
      • Why is clean data important?
      • Keep your data organised
      • Cleaning data cheatsheet
  • Module 5 - Analyse
    • 5.1 What is the story within the data?
      • Spreadsheet rows, columns, cells and tabs
        • Spreadsheet formats, forumlas and essential shortcuts
          • Using the VLOOKUP Function
            • Combine Data From Multiple Spreadsheets
    • 5.2 How to turn numbers into stories
  • Module 6 - Visualise
    • 6.1 Ways we visualise data
    • 6.2 Why we visualize Data
    • 6.3 How to visualise data
  • Course Testing & Feedback
    • ⏱️Quick course exam
    • 🎓Extended course exam
    • 📝Survey and feedback
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  1. Module 1 - Find
  2. 1.1 How to Find Data for Storytelling and journalism

Open data portals and platforms

PreviousStarting with a questionNextOther sources of data

Last updated 2 years ago

If you are lucky, the data to answer your question may have been gathered and published in an open data portal platform. These are places where data is made freely available to the public for the purposes of research. The data may be subject to a particular usage licence, but should be downloadable for analysis and visualisation.

Open data portals may be maintained by a government agency, such as StatsSA, or they might be published by a multinational non-govermental organisation, such as The World Bank. You will also find academic institutions hosting data portals, such as the . Some civil society organisations, such as , also work to "liberate" data from closed, offline formats and turn it into machine readable formats.

What is "Open" and "Closed" data?

Data might be "closed" if it is:

  • Not published publically at all (eg. email data)

  • Only published in an offline format (ie. printed)

  • Published with a restrictive copyright licence

  • Published in a format that is not easy to import into a spreadsheet, such as a PDF

Open data is usually:

  • Published in a machine readable format that you can download (eg. a CSV file)

  • Published under a licence that says you can use it for your purposes without asking for permission

In addition, it should be well maintained and up-to-date.

Examples of Open Data Repositories

As we previous explained open data platforms and portals are created for a variety of different reasons such as contextualizing, procurement and budgeting, entrepreneurship and a wide range of other reasons. Here are some examples.

  • (and central banks)

  • , ,

  • Open Knowledge Foundation

  • University of Cape Town’s microlibrary

  • African Development Bank’s

  • National Research Foundation (NRF)

  • National Research Foundation (NRF)’s Committee on Data for Science and Technology’s

  • Africa: Tracking Internet Progress in

Contextualising South Africa

South African Budget Data Portals

Entrepreneurship

Other examples of useful data sources or resources

World Bank and

(GEM) Data

(GEDI) Data

Berkley Earth climate data repository
OpenUp
National stats offices
World Bank
IMF
Africa Data Hub
UN Data
UN Food and Agricultural Org
World Health Organization
Global Open Data Index
DataFirst
Data Portal
South African Data Archive
Open Data Africa
OpenAfrica Data Portal
Database of Data Resources in Africa
Data & Numbers
Statistics South Africa
Wazimap
Youth Explorer GCRO Quality of Life Survey
Vulekamali
Municipal Money
Doing Business Data
New Business Density Survey
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute
Nemisa k4i Digital Skills Survey
OpenGazettes
CIPC Business and IP Search