Written by Rachel Stroud, NBN Trust's Data & Liaison Officer
Over 95 million records are accessible through the NBN Gateway, but what does this ever expanding wealth of data get used for?
When users download a dataset, or wish to request enhanced access they must submit an online form detailing their requirements to the dataset provider. This request includes a description of their anticipated purpose for the data. The description can be used by the dataset providers to decide whether to grant access to a dataset, and also to see what their data are being used for. On an individual dataset scale this information is extremely informative, but how do we see an overall picture of what the main reasons for using data on the Gateway are?
Using a handy online tool to visualise this otherwise overwhelming quantity of information we have been able to depict the main reasons for requesting enhanced access to data or downloading data from the NBN Gateway. Known as a Word Cloud, these images show the most commonly used words, and the frequency of use being demonstrated by the word’s size. You can make your own Word Clouds using a free website, which is just one of many similar sites. Whilst this is relatively crude analysis, it does allow you to see the diversity of ways the data are used.
Reasons for downloading data
A further look at the data shows 33% of requests for enhanced access are for personal interest, almost 15% for educational purposes and 25% for research and scientific analysis. The figures for dataset downloads show a similar distribution with 40% of downloads for personal interest, 20% for educational purposes and 25% for research and scientific analysis. It is important to note that this data is in the rawest form and included those requests which were denied as well as granted.
Reasons for requesting access to data
We hope you enjoy exploring these visualisations!
Every attempt has been made to remove names and email addresses from these images.
You can read more on how data from the NBN Gateway are being used here