Best Practices

Objectives: Ensure data quality and value when data is collected through satellites, sensors, surveys, or by other means

Suggested Approaches: Focus on quality at the time of data collection; Eliminate manual data entry; Use consumers and volunteers as data sources

Featured Examples: E-Filing Incentives

Objectives: Safeguard individual privacy and confidentiality while providing data with enough detail to support in-depth analysis

Suggested Approaches: Restricted access; De-Identification; New technical approaches; Coordinating data governance structures; Building trust with the community

Featured Examples: Precision Medicine Initiative

Objectives: Facilitate data use by improving  accuracy, machine-readability, timeliness of information

Suggested Approaches: Develop user feedback systems; Use challenges and competitions; Use crowdsourcing

Featured Examples: DATA Act Broker; HHS Demand-Driven Open Data

Objectives: Share federal data more openly with the public, even when the data is imperfect, with enough contextual information to facilitate its use

Suggested Approaches: Release both raw and improved data; Employ user-focused communication strategies; Release individuals’ data back to them

Featured Examples: MyData Initiatives

Objectives: Develop and apply data standards early and throughout the data lifecycle, and explore other approaches to improving interoperability

Suggested Approaches: Use common data standards and taxonomies; Develop data layers to encourage greater interoperability

Featured Examples: NIEM; DAIMS

Objectives: Use collaborative digital services and teams within the Federal Government to help agencies achieve their goals

Featured Examples: 18F; U.S. Digital Service; NTIS Joint Venture Program; The Opportunity Project

Objectives: Make data collected through scientific research freely available to all

Suggested Approaches: Require data sharing as a condition of funding; Use new incentives to promote research data sharing; Develop collaborations and outreach to collect, manage, and publish data

Featured Examples: Study of Environmental Arctic Change; BRAIN Initiative; NIH Commons

Objectives: Engage businesses and nonprofit organizations to build collaborations that benefit both the private sector and government, by contributing services, data, or other resources

Suggested Approaches: Multi-company collaborations; Private sector data sharing

Featured Examples: NOAA Big Data Project; Partnership for Resilience and Preparedness; NIH Accelerating Medicines Partnership

Objectives: Develop communities of practice around open data that include stakeholders both within and outside of government

Suggested Approaches: Use different ways to identify user communities and measure data use; Consider using citizen science; Explore using civic hackathons and challenges

Featured Examples: HHS Opioid Code-a-Thon; USDA Innovation Challenge