text: **2.3. Open Data in Latin America, Asia and Africa**
  Several countries in Latin America are studying and making experiments with Open Data both at 
  
  the government and at the grassroots level. The same is happening, on a much smaller scale, in a 
  
  few parts of Asia and Africa. On average, the volume of these Open Data experiments and the level 
  
  of*local*interest and awareness around them is still lower than what is happening in Europe and 
  
  North America. In spite of this we suggest that it is important, for public officials and civic activists 
  
  in Western Countries, to follow these developments closely. The reason is that they may turn into 
  
  very useful test beds for all the strengths and limits of Open Data, especially those not encountered 
  
  yet where the movement was born. 
  
  In fact, the original discourse and arguments around Open Data are heavily Western centric. The 
  
  problem they want to solve is how to make democracy work better*in countries where it already*
  
  *exists and which share a great amount of history and cultural/philosophical values*. 
  
  Other countries face very different challenges, from the philosophical level to the practical one. A 
  
  common issue in developing countries, for example, is that there is very little to open simply 
  
  because much PSI (Public Sector Information) doesn't exist in digital format yet. Therefore, the first 