Last week Darian Sagnelli, an Honours student in Accounting, shared the data model used in his forthcoming dissertation. The Excel-based model (available on ZivaHub) allows users to calculate their personal rates of inflation, which often differ from the inflation statistics released by StatsSA which are aimed at an average or typical consumer and may not be applicable to individual consumers’ changes in purchasing power. Darian indicated that part of his motivation to share the model was both to provide an easy access point for reviewers to view and critique his work, as well as allowing for public use and potentially feedback on the model itself, which he plans to use to update and enhance the model in the future.

By releasing it as open data, Darian has allowed for the maximal reuse of his model which can be examined in depth and modified for use in other contexts. I’d like to thank Darian for his enthusiasm and willingness to learn about ZivaHub and open data, and his ready acceptance of the value proposition in open scholarship. 

• Thomas King, DLS Data Curation officer