OPEN DATA

John Snow, Cholera & Democracy

Democratizing data and its access represents an important means of keeping the government in check and ensuring it takes proportionate decisions, adapted to the situation. This is even more important in situations such as the pandemic, during which many governments have tended to bypass parliamentary power when implementing restrictions.

By Nathan Lefievre

April 11, 2021

On January 22, 2020, more than a month before the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Covid-19 a pandemic, John Hopkins University unveiled its global coronavirus tracker. Today a wide variety of trackers can be found online, but John Hopkins’s remains a reference in coronavirus data visualisation and a great step for data democratization. While the WHO was publishing daily reports of the virus spread, shown in tables and numbers, the University’s tracker proved a clear and simple way of obtaining information on the pandemic, via charts, curves and maps. The University’s initiative is an excellent example of the importance and benefits of open data for democracy in times of crisis.

The Covid-19 pandemic has undeniably affected and weakened democracy and human rights protection across the globe: 70% of countries covered by The Economist’s Democracy Index have recorded a decline in their overall score. But on a more positive note, the pandemic has proved a significant catalyst for the development of open data and open science. There are of course serious concerns that, considered as an end in itself, open science can reinforce the strength of surveillance capitalism – by legitimizing the collection of health data by Big Tech companies for example. However, in the context of the pandemic, open data – if provided in an effort of data democratization – can have major positive consequences for the spread and control of the virus.

All over the globe, scientists have kept repeating for the past year that to tame the spread of the virus, governments need to step out of the fog. In order to take timely decisions, adapted to the situation, the most public data available is needed. But the need for public data to deal with epidemics did not appear with the Covid-19. It takes its roots in the 1854 cholera epidemic in London. At the time, the disease was thought to be transmitted by miasmas. However, a doctor named John Snow – not that one – does not believe in this theory and attempts to study the spread of the disease in the Soho neighbourhood. By marking the houses affected by the disease and cross checking the data with a map, the doctor found a link with a public water pump in Broad Street, proving that the disease is transmitted by water and not by air. As early as 1854, John Snow had proven the need for public, open data for governments and citizens alike.

In 2016, the French Parliament passed the Law for a Digital Republic, stating that any data must become public except if it presents too sensitive information. On the dedicated website, data.gouv.fr, one can today find thousands of public datasets from bacteriological analysis of public drinking water to the list of all objects owned by the French state. Since its launch, the website and data made available have mostly been used by scientists and researchers, rather than the public. But the Covid-19 pandemic has put the website in the foreground in France, being reused by citizens to display in a clear and easy to understand manner the numbers of the pandemic: daily cases, incidence rate, share of variants, etc.

Through their work, made possible by the opening of data, any citizen can follow in a precise manner the evolution of the pandemic and thus, understand the stakes and adapt their behaviour. By increasing transparency and justifying the decisions, open data can reduce the prevalence of conspiracy theories and improve the relationship between citizens and their governments. Additionally, providing citizens with such data can increase the likeliness that they will accept and adhere to the necessary restrictions to be implemented.

Indeed, in times of crisis, having access to clear, precise and up-to-date data is the key to manage and reduce risks. Open data is key to such risk management, as it gives to every individual the power to understand the risks and challenges. As such, individuals can become actors of the crisis by acting as informed agents who can take timely and relevant decisions to reduce the impact of such disasters. International initiatives such as Our World in Data, the Worldometer, have demonstrated the importance of open data by offering to the world easily accessible global and country-specific information on the spread of the virus. Such initiatives have truly shown the power and relevance of civil society initiatives in times of crisis when governments and international bodies could not or did not wish to provide such amount of information in a clear fashion. 

Knowledge is a key component of any democratic regime. In order to fully enjoy their democratic rights citizens must be aware of them and of their limits. Moreover, knowledge allows any individual to take part and sustain the public debate. Democratizing data and its access represents an important means of keeping the government in check and ensuring it takes proportionate decisions, adapted to the situation. This is even more important in situations such as the Covid-19 pandemic, during which many governments have tended to bypass parliamentary power when implementing restrictions.

Open data should be a key component of any modern democratic regime. By providing every citizen with crucial knowledge on a wide variety of topics, governments can stem the rise of populist threats that often rely on fake information to gain influence. Finally, open data is absolutely necessary for democracies in times of crisis, by harnessing the power and expertise of each and every citizen, making them an actor of the country’s resilience.

Nathan is in the first year of a dual Master in European Affairs and Public Policy between Sciences Po Paris and the National University of Singapore. He has previously worked for the International Action Network on Small Arms on Gender-Based Armed Violence and with the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies.