Where Public Data Lives

More places than people expect.

Government portals, national and city.

International bodies: the World Bank, the UN, WHO.

Cultural archives: libraries, museums and universities, many with real APIs and unusually good documentation.

Research repositories, which often carry the best method notes you will find anywhere.

Journalism outlets that publish the data behind their stories.

Five questions before any code.

Who collected it, and why? Purpose shapes what got measured and what did not.

When, and covering what period? Data with no date is data you cannot cite.

How was it collected? Self-reported, observed and modeled are three different kinds of number wearing the same clothes.

Who is missing? Absence is usually a decision.

What is the license? This decides what you may publish.