Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP
-
J Public Health Manag Pract · Sep 2015
Opening Health Data: What Do Researchers Want? Early Experiences With New York's Open Health Data Platform.
Governments are rapidly developing open data platforms to improve transparency and make information more accessible. New York is a leader, with currently the only state platform devoted to health. Although these platforms could build public health departments' capabilities to serve more researchers, agencies have little guidance on releasing meaningful and usable data. ⋯ Open data are not ideal for some researchers because they do not contain individually identifiable data, indicating a need for tiered data release strategies. However, they do provide important new opportunities to facilitate research and foster collaborations among agencies, researchers, and practitioners.