Deo Shao
Tanzania

"This course has been of great value in helping me to understand lots of new concepts from policy to technical perspectives."

While working as a Computer Systems Developer & Assistant Lecturer, Deo Shao participated in the online courses Open Data Governance: from Policy to Use and Open Government. Read about his experience.

What was your motivation for enrolling in this course?
I am currently working on projects that attempt to leverage open data for the public good. The first project uses open data in health sector to improve health service competitiveness and enable the public to make decisions based on quality of health service data (funded by MCC Data). The other project explores the design, process and structure of open government initiatives in Tanzania (funded by IDRC). Working on these projects I have become very interested in all aspects of open data. My PhD research which I am currently pursuing at the University of Dodoma focuses on open government data infrastructures in Tanzania.

Against this background, the Open Government Data Use and Open Government Data courses offered by the TU Delft have been of great value in helping me to understand lots of new concepts from policy to technical perspectives.

How would you describe your online learning experience?
The coverage and the delivery methods of the course materials were satisfactory. Assessments and the reference materials were excellent resources enabling me to grasp all the important concepts. The delivery platform is user-friendly with intuitive interfaces that make the experience comfortable.

I would advise anyone to tap into similar (open data) courses as it’s an emerging field especially in the developing world where there are few experts in place.