Co-authors: Silvana Fumega, Global Data Barometer | Paulina Behluli, The Data Tank

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At this year’s Data for Policy Conference in Barcelona, we tried something new: a live vote to take the temperature of the room. The question: is access to data moving in the right direction?

The room included data practitioners, policymakers, researchers, industry representatives and civil society: all working on different ends of the same data pipeline. Each sees a different part of the picture, and we wanted to see what happens when those views are put side by side.

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A mixed reading

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The result was mixed, and honestly, that feels right. There was no clear verdict that things are getting better or worse — although the majority (34 vs 24) felt that we are experiencing a data winter. Some respondents blamed this “winter” on AI data extraction, a lack of legal tools for access, shrinking social media data access, and declining open data.

As Stefaan Verhulst wrote last year, borrowing from Dickens, it is the best of times and the worst of times for data access. On one side, privacy-enhancing technologies, synthetic data, data commons and generative AI itself could open a Fourth Wave of Open Data. On the other, platforms have closed research access, climate data is being privatised, open government data programmes are stalling, certain governments are questioning whether public data should be charged, and “AI anxiety” makes data holders reluctant to share.

Left unchecked, those pressures point toward a data winter: a period in which data that could serve the common good is frozen and immobilised. Depending on where you sit, you can look at the same ecosystem and see either the spring of hope or the winter of despair.

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The one thing they agreed on

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The sample was small, so the numbers should be read with care. But one point drew near-universal agreement: without a barometer, it is very hard to tell whether the data ecosystem is moving forward, and in which direction.

We track weather, inflation, unemployment and air quality with regular, shared measures. For the broader data ecosystem, the closest thing we have is the Global Data Barometer. Its second edition, released in May 2025, assesses 43 countries, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. It scores them on data governance, capabilities and availability, with AI readiness, inclusion and data use as cross-cutting themes.

Its findings echo the mixed mood in our room. Many countries have adopted data governance laws, but practice lags well behind policy. Former open data champions are struggling to sustain their programmes. Inclusion remains largely symbolic, and AI is moving faster than the rules meant to govern it.

The Global Data Barometer gives us a rigorous, country-level baseline. What our vote added was a quick pulse from the people working in the system. The two are complementary: one measures the structures, the other captures how those structures feel on the ground.

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An experiment, not a finished tool

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This was a first attempt to combine a visual, interactive format with research on the state of data access. It worked well enough to start a conversation, and it showed what needs more design: clearer indicators aligned with the Global Data Barometer, explicit questions on data stewardship, a larger and more varied sample, and a way to repeat the reading over time.

You can explore the prototype barometer here. We would welcome ideas on what it should measure and who should take part. Taking the temperature is only a starting point. A next step is to better understand what may sit behind these perceptions: whether responsibilities for enabling responsible data use are clear, whether organisations are able to collaborate across sectors, and whether data can be accessed, shared and reused responsibly. These are all dimensions of data stewardship, and we are interested in exploring how they could be assessed comparatively across countries. If we want the data ecosystem to move in the right direction, we need a way to know which direction it is moving, and to better understand the conditions that enable data to be accessed and used for the public good.

If you are interested to help us shape this experiment better, reach out to us at: silvana@globaldatabarometer.org & contact@datastewards.net

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