Open data, science and society: Launching oasis, the flagship initiative of the istituto italiano di antropologia

The Open Data philosophy has gained considerable momentum in recent years, both in society and the scientific community. The accessibility via web of open data from the public sector has remarkably increased in the last decade, although there are substantial differences among nations (http://datacatalogs.org/). The expectation of many citizens, organizations and pressure groups (the so called “open government” movement) is that the free release of data from public administrations may help increase government transparency and accountability. Reaching this target, however, is, without doubt, a complex task. Numbers should not only be easily discoverable and accessible to everyone, but also arranged in such a way as to make it possible to give a direct answer to simple but important questions (e.g. how economic resources coming from taxpayers are used), and in an available form that allows for further manipulation and mining. Plus, it is necessary to develop effective ways for informed citizens to collaborate with governments in order to have a real impact on public choices. Having gone through these steps, open data practices may actually help establish a connection between politics, bureaucracies and the public and, ultimately, achieve a truly participatory governance (Lathrop & Ruma, 2011).