Dreaming of data for all

On this day, World Statistics Day, World Bank chief economist Justin Lin has a dream, and it involves mountains of data: My dream is to create an environment where researchers and analysts have access to a wide range of reliable data: long time-series, household and firm surveys, and special studies; where they can share their ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

On this day, World Statistics Day, World Bank chief economist Justin Lin has a dream, and it involves mountains of data:

On this day, World Statistics Day, World Bank chief economist Justin Lin has a dream, and it involves mountains of data:

My dream is to create an environment where researchers and analysts have access to a wide range of reliable data: long time-series, household and firm surveys, and special studies; where they can share their own data; and where they can work together as a community to solve development problems. This is the goal of Open Development:  Open Data, Open Knowledge, Open Solutions.

I am confident that my dream will come true. I believe so because in my work with statisticians and information systems specialists, I have always been impressed with their dedication and passion, their attention to quality, and their eagerness to meet the needs of data users. So on October 20, join me in celebrating the past accomplishments of the global statistical system and the new knowledge that future progress in statistics will bring.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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