I am not very certain that, Clive Humby, when he boldly declared in 2006 that “Data is the new oil” fully grasped the extent to which this statement will become true a decade down the line. Let us take a look at some of the parallels between oil and data:

•       Both are raw forms of abundantly available resources
•       Both can be drilled, extracted, refined, stored, transported and commodified
•       Both have to be refined to be valuable; in fact, the more refined, the more the value
•       Both have immense controlling power on the economy

In fact, a lot of people have come to the conclusion that data is to the 21st century what oil was to the 18th century. Consider the fact that recently, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft have been listed as the five most lucrative companies in the world. We know that what makes them so lucrative are the services they provide. True – but the main question is: “what services and to whom are these services rendered and at what cost?”. Let me try to help with that – these companies by providing various platforms for people to purchase goods without actually visiting a store, meet people without actually leaving the comfort of our homes, cloud storage that does not require bulky hardware etc. collect, on a daily basis, basic data about where people live, how they think, what they like, what they do etc. So basically, they provide access and collect tons of data from us in return. Then, if you consider that this is data that most governments do not even have and people largely give these out without much prodding, then, it should really give you something to think about. If I am willing to provide strangers with so much data/information about myself, why then should I not become data literate? Why should I not be interested in knowing/learning how these data can be used, by whom and for what purposes and how it can affect me? On a much more general level, why should I not be interested in data that can have a direct impact on my life, whether positive or negative?

Despite having worked at Connected Development for some time, during some conversations, I used to still get stuck at some point, trying to explain how CODE is connected to the data literacy movement. All that has been demystified for me after attending the one week School of Data summer camp (an annual event for individuals and members of the SCODA network to come together and share insights on their current work and open up channels for collaboration) in Tanzania from 23rd to 30th September 2017.

members of the SCODA network at the summer camp

Now, I understand that the most part of the work we do is connected to data literacy; when we teach people in rural communities what financial data is important, how they can access such data, refine it, use it, shape it into newsworthy stories and in the long run, use their interaction with the entire system and processes to ensure their communities are the better for it. Afterall, if people are willing to give total strangers personal data about themselves on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and all other social networks, that can be used to put together information about them, why should they not be interested in knowing how much of their commonwealth their governments have decided to spend on healthcare, education, and provision of other social infrastructure and amenities such as potable water, understand how these funds are being spent and follow the money trail. This is what we call Follow The Money and this is why it is important that every citizen, regardless of where they live needs to follow the money.

non-members explain Follow The Money in their own words using the water cycle!

In addition, it was also an opportunity to share what we do at CODE, especially with respect to Follow The Money and how other organizations, individuals, and countries can benefit from this model.

Needless to say that from this, we have people in Haiti, Tanzania, Malawi who are interested in following the money in their countries.

Explaining why and how Follow The Money is a data literacy initiative

Data is abundant around us, data is no longer texts and numbers – data is words, videos, audio, facts, figures. Data is anything that can be used to provide insight on a matter or person or place or situation and since we live in the age of information where these insights can easily be transferred or sold and Data is the currency through which these transactions occur, it is safe then to agree that Data is indeed the new oil. if this is the case, it is time everyone learned how to access, refine and use these data. More important however is the fact that the more people become data literate and use available data, the more evidence there will be for advocating for more data to be open and for data to be more open!

If you are interested in joining a growing community of data enthusiasts who are learning how to use financial data to improve their communities and fight corruption, join us at

iFOLLOWTHEMONEY PLATFORM today!

What makes Potsdam thick? The breathtaking castles; what about Ottawa? It’s War Museum and the Rideau Canal; and what about Ibiuna? Does it even sound familiar? So this year the School of Data annual summer camp moves to Ibiuna in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With a population of 76,432, the School of Data will be adding 36 amazing participants from 24 countries in 5 continents to this small municipality. For me, it was a pleasure to be attending the 3rd summer camp in a row. Yippie! and what about this summer camp, hosted by the amazing guys at Escola de dados – lets ride!

The opening sessions on day one was grand with Dirk Slater introducing participants to what to expect in the next 5 days, followed by a breakout interaction where participants get to share why they are interested in this data work or data movement. One fascinating A-ha moment for me in my group was meeting Mariano, a tall, middle aged lawyer from Greece. “I don’t believe in working without been paid, we should find how to create business models that can pay for the good works we do. And just to let you know money motivates me” – He further said. Meeting the likes of Natalia, a Lawyer, teacher and now turned data journalist; Kabu, a new fellow from Zambia who is interested in health data because she feels the relevant datasets are not available in Zambia; Jennifer from South Africa, with a background in commercial ,now in interested in tech for social change, and working with Code for South Africa inspires her many times to continue doing the kind of work with do.

                                Participants at the Opening Circle

The “spectrogram” a facilitation type which breaks participants into groups to figure out controversial statements relevant to the data movements’ and afterward participants will have to move to a side that agrees, disagrees or in between followed, and this got participants thinking with statement ranging from if public interest should override personal privacy; collecting data about ethnicity; open society is better than equal society; data journalism takes too long to be effective; and if we can make open data without computer. These are all great thoughts as we enhance data literacy, but what are your thoughts around these questions? Feel free to add your comments at the end of this post.

Of course the summer camp can’t be more energized without the 15 minutes breaks – so much a time for you to quickly ping your loved ones, have a CAMEL cigarette ;), roll down the cliff, feed on some biscuits, and also have some coffee. “Hey guys, it’s nice to see the sun rising” exclaimed Dirk. Yes, at this time of the year, the mornings were always cold, and no thanks to the heavy storm a night before day 1 which did not allow participants like me have early morning hot bath. However, I was thrilled when Marco said a call was put through to their power holding company at 3.30 am and they came to the neighborhood 1 hr 30 minutes later to fix the electric poles that were affected by the lighting during the rain. Fantastic, right! Especially if you come from my part of the world. Oh I might be wrong, so if you know of any government servicing company in Nigeria that responds to emergencies like this swiftly, please give some thumbs up to them in the comments box below, we’ll be glad you did!

Participants at the Governance track setting up indicators for data trainings

But can you crowdsource the Agenda for an event? That was exactly what we did after the break on day 1, with sticky notes flying around the wall on what participants would love to learn or achieve before they leave the event. Why not? There must be a reason for you travelling far down to Sao Paulo, and you must let the organizers know. The Agenda were grouped into skillshare, communications, membership, Opportunities for Collaboration, and talking about the later the next session was dedicated to knowing what School of Data is in a “standing fair mode”, another instance of speed dating where you get to know how members got started with School of Data, what the role of Open Knowledge International, and the steering committee is, and what members do. It was memorable listening to Sanders narrative on how Open Knowledge started School of Data, and its exit strategy; very captivating listening to Natalia as she patiently defined the 5 members of the steering committee while engagements with Bardhyl (Bar – deal if you need some beers ;)) of Metarmophosis  in Macedonia, and Sylvia in OK France was simply amazing.

So afterwards, was the 2 hours break which was followed by the governance track and the fellowship track. So every summer camp has a list of fellows who are embedded in their countries with different organizations to work on projects with CSOs, and journalists to achieve specific goals. The fellowship track allows fellows (this time we have 10 of them) to meet their partners, work on their deliverable, and help them curate activities they will be carrying out for the entire six month.

The Fellows track where new fellows set up a road map for their activities

Just like you may know, talking about governance could be a tasking and unending issue among non profits, especially when the movement is a network or coalition. I remembered in Potsdam, where the governance talk started, it went into the nights and the conversation was heated up. One good thing that has happened was that the network has moved on from where it was back in 2014 to fixing its governance right, especially with an effective framework, which was consolidated on, at this summer camp. Talks at the governance session included fundraising, membership, fellowship, member support, and of course relationship with Open Knowledge International. In all, one thing remains clear that the School of Data is a small and young organization which would want to grow in a less chaotic way.

It is noteworthy that the School of Data accepts members, however the requirements you will need to look at includes you or your organization being able to establish a relationship of trust with school of data coordinators; send a plan to the steering committee, and if approved, expect to sign an MOU with the school of data. With the present 12 members, perhaps the School of Data might move into another learning year, with conversations that will shape its future for the coming year.

The closing circle at the Summer Camp

One week, so many sticky notes, wobbly internet (no thanks to the heavy rain), great food (No thanks to the hardworking caterers),29 skill shares: The data literacy track which started on day 2 had different skills shared by participants for one hour;and maybe no need to swim in the Itupararanga lake, as the rains were always in to the rescue. As we look forward to the next summer camp, some good memories will linger, like the energetic turkish – Pina; Guatemalan Danny the Elvis; Dirk for his opening and closing circles, and all the sharpies and sticky notes that will forever live in our memories. DATASCHULE!!!

There is  a Wiki at http://wiki.okfn.org/Summer_Camp_2016 where you can get more information about the 2016 summer camp.