Standards for data management in the sector have been a headache since the beginning. Standards are essential for sharing data between agencies, whether at HQ or field level, but the politics involved in developing them have frankly defeated most previous attempts. Recent discussions in the IASC sub-group on information management have started the ball rolling in some of the clusters, but it’s still painfully slow given that we started talking about this eight years ago.
Where there has been progress is in the development of spatial data infrastructure for the UN system, a fairly comprehensive effort overseen by the UN Geographic Information Working Group. The UN Joint Logistics Center has just released the UN Spatial Data Infrastructure for Transport database schema (UNSDI-T v1.2). With the release of the database schema, we finally have a shared resource for field implementation of logistics databases – as well the starting point of a participatory process in which other users can also take responsibility for developing the standards to meet their needs.
What does this mean in practice? For a start, agencies using this schema will be able to share data more easily, which will lead to gains in efficiency (and hopefully effectiveness). Hopefully that will translate into a more accurate picture of the situation on the ground, less duplication in data collection and better information products (particularly maps) for the whole community.
Of course, all this relies on agencies actually implementing the schema, and we’ll have to wait and see how many pick it up. I’m also interested in whether (for example) the Helios software that I blogged about last week incorporates the schema – I’m assuming that it does because if it doesn’t, then any NGO that uses it is going to be generating data which can’t easily be shared, which will be a serious barrier to co-ordination.
(UNJLC is a a dedicated logistics capacity that is hosted by WFP but sits outside the agencies – it seems to me that this positioning has been key to their success, and should be a lesson for the rest of the UN system, but that’s another story. They also credit ITHACA with the technical aspect of generating the schema, which is another lesson in working with external actors.)
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Paul… the schema and SDI just released by UNJLC is a “good thing”, and the result of a wide technical consultation. You hit the nail on the head though with the question of value flowing from use. HLS/Helios has been in pilot for a lot longer than the SDI schema has been under production (well, this current version), so I don’t believe it implements it directly.
One of the great things about XML versions of schema is that it’s possible to _transform_ between different schema, making structured data sharing possible. And extend schema with custom attributes. That said, I still think we’re waiting for the “microformats” approach to humanitarian data. And I think it’ll come from the bottom up – from tools that are being used – rather than directly from groups like UNGIWG.
The IASC cluster system and UNGIWG _can_ be influential in adoption by endorsing extensible standards.
I’d love to see the microformat approach used in the sector – getting formal agreement on data standards is like stirring treacle, and while I agree that the clusters and the UNGIWG can provide political support, they don’t seem able to actually implement standards.
However I’m waiting to be proved wrong by some of the more advanced clusters such as Emergency Shelter – while noting that most of those clusters have a centre of gravity such as UNJLC that can push the process forward, while the clusters that have no such centre remain mired in their internal discussions.
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