text: **1. Introduction**
  This report is the final deliverable of the Open Data, Open Society research project. It follows the 
  
  publication of the Open Data, Open Society report, finished in late October 2010 and published in 
  
  early January 2011. That first report focused on explaining the critical importance of digital data in 
  
  contemporary society and business activities; defining Open Data; giving examples on their 
  
  potential, especially at the local level, on transparency and economics activities; finally, defining 
  
  summarizing some general best practices. 
  
  This second report looks at what happened in the Open Data arena after October 2010. After some 
  
  considerations on the general social and political background in late 2010/early 2011, it is divided 
  
  in two main parts. The first describes some emerging trends and issues related to Open Data, that 
  
  got minor or no coverage in the first report. The second part discusses some practices and actions to 
  
  follow to deal with those trends and issues. 