Looking back at EU Open Data Days 2021: ‘Using dataviz for
policymaking’
Last November, the Publications Office of the European Union
[https://op.europa.eu/en/home] organised the EU Open Data Days
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/home]. Over the three days
(23 – 25 November 2021), the event showed the benefits of open data
to more than 2300 EU public sector representatives, citizens and
businesses under the main theme: ‘_S__hape our future with open
data_’. 

Over 70 speakers from across the world took the floor in six thematic
sessions [https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/programme]. Each
of these sessions provided an overview of innovative techniques and
best practices used in both the private and public sector. Moreover,
they offered the participants valuable insights into open data and
data visualisation techniques and practices.  

In a series of news pieces, we have recapped each of the thematic
sessions of the EU Open Data Days, which included: 

 	* ‘Creating open data ecosystems
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-creating-open-data-ecosystems]’ 
 	* ‘Data for people
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-data-people]’ 
 	* ‘Facilitating data re-use
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-facilitating-data-re-use]’ 
 	* ‘From open data to data visualisation
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-open-data-data-visualisation]’
 	* ‘Serving citizens with dataviz’
[https://data.europa.eu/en/news/looking-back-eu-open-data-days-2021-serving-citizens-dataviz]

The sixth thematic session was titled ‘Using dataviz for
policymaking’ and linked open data and data visualisation together
with a focus on how it can support the decision-making cycle,
especially in the EU public sector. 

The first session was titled ‘The story of the Atlas of Sustainable
Development Goals 2020
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#the-story-of-the-atlas-of-sustainable-development-goals]’.
The session was presented by Ana Florina Pirlea and Divyanshi Wadhwa
from the Development Data Group of the World Bank
[https://www.worldbank.org/en/home]. In the session, they introduced
the Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals series
[https://datatopics.worldbank.org/sdgatlas/#:~:text=The%20Atlas%20of%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals%202020%20presents%20interactive%20storytelling,how%20some%20SDGs%20are%20measured.]
and described the vision and technology used for the 2020 edition.
Moreover, they highlighted a set of key visuals to explain the
approach the team took to showcase the latest development trends and
the early impact of COVID-19 through interactive storytelling and data
visualisation. 

The second session was titled ‘Simplifying complexity –
visualising energy scenarios for climate neutrality
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#simplifying-complexity-visualising-energy-scenarios]’.
The session was presented by Darren McGarry and Wouter Nijsfrom the
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en]. In
the session, they demonstrated how data visualisation tools can
increase awareness and understanding of complex issues and can be used
to facilitate citizens’ engagement in crucial European Commission
initiatives, such as the European Green Deal
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en].


The third session was titled ‘Public transport for equal
opportunities – better data visualisation for better decision-making
[https://op.europa.eu/en/web/euopendatadays/24-november-2021/#public-transport-in-the-service-of-equal-opportunities]’
by Caroline Goulard, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of
Dataveyes [https://dataveyes.com/en]. In the session, Caroline
discussed the opportunities of mobility data, the challenge of
transforming this complex data into meaningful information, and how to
use it to make informed decisions. She delved into how Dataveyes
produced several data visualisation tools that help mobility players
face the challenge of transforming data into meaningful information
and shared best practices and lessons learned.

The fourth session was titled ‘Friendly open data visualisation
about droughts: The importance of citizens’ engagement
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3CsTAFvYhQ] ’. This session was
presented by Shirly Kempeneer, an Assistant Professor at Tilburg
University, and Lisanne van Weelden, an Assistant Professor at Utrecht
University. In the session, they presented a case study of publicly
available open data from the regional water authority in the
Netherlands, and how data visualisation can unleash the potential of
this type of data and help communicate complex issues, such as
drought. The session also provided findings from citizen surveys and
field lab on visualisations, and discussed effective tools and
processes of data visualisation for policymakers, decision-makers, and
the general public. 

 

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Publication Date/Time
2022-09-30T07:00:00+00:00
Explore four initiatives highlighting the link between open data and
data visualisation to support policy-making