The peculiarities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), small land masses and low population numbers, impact upon the nature of open data an official statistics. Statistical processes are built around the precepts of protection of the identity of individual data provider, the provider being a natural person or a corporate entity. The protection of the privacy of the data provider is built into the various Statistics Acts and all the rules and guidelines used in developing the various statistical products.
The review of four (4) SIDS, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago being part of the Caribbean Region, to determine their readiness for the publication of Official Statistics in an open data platform reveals that there a number of challenges that would have to be overcome before official statistics can be published as open data.

This project was conceptualized with the basic objectives of:
a) Exploring the feasibility of a Pilot Project that applies the concept of OpenData to Agriculture
Production in Jamaica
b) Building a demonstration prototype of an application that illustrates how open data can improve directly
and indirectly the efficiency of value chains in Agriculture in Jamaica, with emphasis on small farmers.
This final project report describes three streams of outcomes that have emerged from the initiative:
i. Development of technology artifacts to demonstrate the concepts of OpenData
ii. Engagement of key constituents and stakeholders through high visibility events
iii. Future possibilities & opportunities for OpenData initiatives in Jamaica and the Caribbean

Regional Executive Summary and Individual country reports for the The Caribbean Open Data Conference and Code Sprint, themed “Developing the Caribbean” that was staged over the 2-day period, 26 – 27 January 2012 at locations in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic, with virtual participating nodes in Barbados and Cuba. The report provides a concise summary of Event highlights and outcomes including links to multi-media content and Applications developed from the codesprint.

This book features case studies and reports on the use of “web 2.0″ and social networking applications and services to increase the impact of research on policy in Latin America. During 2010 and 2011 Fundación Comunica, with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada) and assistance from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), supported a series of small research projects examining the use of online social networking services to link research and policy in the region. Twelve projects were supported, most of them selected from ninety-seven proposals received following the distribution of a call for proposals in May 2010. Two types of projects were supported: (i) action research projects involved both implementing and evaluating a specific use of one or more online social networking services to link research and policy or researchers and policymakers, and (ii) more conventional ones evaluated existing initiatives implemented by third parties.