Categories of risks

Reputation risks

Data quality risks

Identify

Data that can affect your reputation:

  • is inaccurate
  • contains personal information
  • not updated regularly
  • too suppressed

This can undermine the strategic benefits of publishing open data and may contradict legal or other policy requirements.

Potential users may not see you as a credible publisher and in turn avoid using your data and/or services.

Reduce

Develop a robust data management plan that includes being as open as possible with data. Your plan should detail:

  • quality control mechanisms
  • time schedules
  • processes that ensure data is as open and accessible as possible
  • channels of communication with consumers

Mis-use risks

Identify

Mis-trust in data, others’ use of data, or drawing ‘incorrect’ conclusions that might be attributed to the publisher. There is a perception that this will lead to reputational and potentially commercial damage.

Reduce
Ask yourself how you battle misrepresentation or misuse?

People cannot refute claims of false analysis unless the data is available for others to analyse themselves. If you share data as openly as possible it can fight misuse and misrepresentation rather than lead to more of it!