website that tracks which councils have published public toilet open data, and which have not. A  
map like this solves one specific, concrete problem in the ordinary, daily life of many people:  
"Many older people have continence concerns and only go to places where they know there is a  
toilet. " 
It is also possible and useful to pass the message that, when it comes to participation, activism and  
transparency in politics, Open Data are a concrete and pacific weapon that is both very effective and 
very easy to use for everybody. Dino Amenduni explained the first point well  at the end of 2010  
with words and arguments that, while tightly bound to the current situation in Italy, apply, in spirit,  
also to other countries: 
in order to have your voice heard, it is necessary to threaten the private interests of 
politicians. The ways to achieve this goal are, in my opinion... Communication 
guerrilla: physical violence doesn't generate change anymore. Power is in the hands of 
those who have data. But those data must be communicated, made usable, fun to use, 
shareable, in order to give the feeling that knowledge brings a concrete (economic or 
intangible) personal advantage 
Proofs that participation to generation and usage of Open Data is easy would include, instead,  
examples like electionleaflets. All citizens who can use a computer scanner and have Internet access 
can upload on that website the leaflets distributed by the candidates during a campaign, making  
much  easier  (after  other,  more  skilled  volunteers  have  inserted  the  content  of  the  leaflets  in 
searchable  databases)  comparisons  between  the  candidates  positions  or  making  public  some 
disrespectful material (racist, insulting…). 
4.7. Involve NGOs, charities and business associations
As a final note and recommendation of this report, we'll note that, in comparison with hackers and  
public officers, there are other parties that could and should play a role in Open Data adoption much 
bigger than what they have had so far. 
NGOs and charities, as well as professionals or business associations, all have lots to gain from  
Open Data but don't seem, in many cases, to have realized this yet. Members of the first category  
should  routinely  ask  for  support  directly  to  Open  Data  civic  hackers  to  gather  (either  from 
government  or  citizens)  more  up  to  date  information  that  is  specifically  relevant  for  their 
campaigns. 
The other associations, instead, should be much more active both in publishing Open Data about  
their activities, to gain better access to customers and guarantee fair market competition, and in  
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Copyright  2011 LEM, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. This work is released under a Creative Commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)