About the TDO
Mission, objectives, how it works, and how to engage with the Trusted Data Observatory.
Why is trusted data important—and how is reliability being challenged?
The abundance of information—especially online—makes it increasingly difficult to separate trustworthy material from misleading or inaccurate content. New technologies and AI tools can generate highly plausible but incorrect content, complicating the distinction between reliable and unreliable sources.
What are the challenges of accessing reliable data?
Data is often stored in separate silos, collected for specific purposes and not easily discoverable. Search engines—lexical and AI‑enabled—gather information rapidly but from any source, which may reduce the visibility of official and trusted data. Even high‑quality datasets remain difficult to find when metadata is not open, consistent, or machine‑readable.
Why does metadata matter for data discovery?
Metadata—“data about data”—is the foundation for discovery, accessibility, and comparability. It helps users and systems identify authoritative sources, assess relevance and timeliness, understand licensing and usage conditions, and distinguish trusted data from other material. In an AI‑enabled environment, metadata becomes the entry point for discovery.
What is AI readiness?
AI readiness means that metadata is open, harmonised, machine‑readable and aligned with recognised international standards. Since AI systems primarily engage with language (metadata) rather than numbers, metadata must be structured so that systems can correctly interpret and retrieve trusted information.
How do metadata platforms enable data reuse?
Metadata platforms increase accessibility and visibility across national and international systems. When metadata is harmonised, both humans and machines can easily identify authoritative sources and re‑use data appropriately.
What is the Trusted Data Observatory?
The Trusted Data Observatory (TDO) aims to build a world where trusted data is accessible to all, empowering informed decisions and countering misinformation. It serves as a global discovery layer for official, reliable information. The TDO focuses on metadata; data stays with the original producers.
What are the objectives?
- Improve discoverability and comparability of trusted, official data through high‑quality metadata.
- Promote open, interoperable standards that enable AI‑readiness and cross‑system integration.
- Strengthen public trust by making provenance, methods, and quality transparent.
- Foster collaboration across statistical offices, academia, international organisations, industry, and civil society.
From feasibility to implementation
The TDO follows an iterative path from feasibility and prototyping to production‑grade services, focusing on tangible use‑cases, measurable value, and sustainable operations.
How the TDO works in practice
- A federated approach: metadata is harvested or linked; data remain with publishers.
- Quality signals and provenance are highlighted to guide both humans and AI systems.
- APIs and documentation support reuse in research, journalism, policy, and education.
How the TDO is being developed
Development is community‑driven, engaging partners in co‑design, pilots, and open feedback cycles to refine features, standards alignment, and governance.
Where will it be hosted?
Hosting follows open, secure, and compliant deployments, allowing participating institutions to integrate and federate metadata while respecting their infrastructure and policies.
How to engage and collaborate
Organisations can participate via pilots, dataset onboarding, metadata standardisation, and events/training. Start with a concrete use‑case that delivers clear value and evaluable outcomes.
Contact: info@tdo.example