Kijk,zo kan het ook. Een database met duizenden terroristische incidenten over de hele wereld. Voor iedereen vrij toegankelijk. Sterker – je mag er zelf mee rekenen. De dataset die eraan ten grondslag ligt, is ook vrij toegankelijk. Niet helemaal betrouwbaar, dunkt me, maar een stap in de goede richting.
Want wat te denken van dit incident: “1 government employee killed, 3 others wounded, 66 others held hostage in assault and armed attack by South Moluccan separatists in Assen, Drenthe, Netherlands.” Datum: 07/06/2007. Huh? Zit ik nou te slapen, is hier sprake van een mislukte cover up of is er een grove fout in een Amerikaanse database geslopen?
Enfin, toch geeft Matthew Burton op een van mijn favoriete blogs twee redenen om met deze dataset aan de slag te gaan. Een interessante oproep om met data van overheden en de kennis en kunde van het publiek de handen ineen te slaan.
First, the NCTC (National Counter-Terrorism Center) probably has very little resources when it comes to data visualization. This huge data set could reveal some unknown patterns about terrorism, if only it were presented in the right way. The XML file includes information on location, the background of the assailant, the type of target, weapons used, the number of casualties, and the cost of the damage. Lots could be learned about new trends in violent extremism: are some geographic areas cooling off, while others are heating up? Is a particular locale shifting from one tactic to another? Does a certain group have a new preferred weapon? Even if you don’t support the idea of a “war on terror” or approve of the way it’s been carried out, such knowledge benefits everyone interested in peace.
Second, and more importantly, we need to show government agencies that posting such data is worth their while. This is a pretty radical experiment for a national security agency; it’s hard enough just getting simple data on routine legislation. Now that a secretive agency has taken such a leap, we need to show them what they stand to gain from such experiments. We all want government agencies to be more open with their data. They’ll comply much more quickly if we show them there’s a fast, tangible benefit to doing so. <<