According to the May 6th, 2017 issue of the Economist, data has officially displaced oil as the world’s most valuable resource. If you’re like me, the most surprising part of this declaration is that its taken until now for it to appear. Data drives the business models of most, if not all, of the world’s most valuable companies, governments rely upon data for safety and security issues and data availability is something so many of us take for granted when we’re driving from our homes to an unfamiliar destination.

As the world’s most valuable resource, you’d think that data would be locked in safes, or hidden from view or, basically, hoarded whenever possible. And you’d be correct. However, what we also know is that there is an absolutely mind boggling amount of data that is publicly accessible, or “open”, for anyone to access and use. And there is a powerful movement, which continues to gain popularity, that seeks to unlock, set free and make useful as much of the world’s data as possible.

My guest for the 161st Terms of Reference Podcast, Pavel Richter, sits at one of the focal points of open data movement. He is is the CEO of Open Knowledge International, a worldwide non-profit network of people passionate about openness, using technology to unlock information, and enabling people to take action on pressing social problems. And, Pavel is no newbie to open data, before joining OKI, Pavel was Executive Director of Wikimedia Deutschland for 5 years, and pioneered the internationally acclaimed Wikidata project which is now the fastest growing project for open structured data.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy our conversation, where we discuss topics such as what open data means, the ethics of open data, where open data “lives”, if open data used for “evil” and even how different cultures interpret what “open” means.