“Mapping BP” will present an open data approach to building searchable and visualised networks of webs of corporate influence in order to increase oversight on the way international business is done. OpenOil has been working with local partners in three African countries on pilots which will be augmented during the session by participants.
Much information around multinational corporations remains secret. But open data already provide an opportunity to map connections between hundreds of thousands of companies systematically. Who owns who, does business with who, who sits on whose board or serves as a company officer, which companies share business addresses, or accountants. Using open source graph databases such as Neo4j, OpenOil will engage the audience in adding data using an established methodology. This will prove how it is now possible to create a global corporate map by global collaboration, in a way that is useful and safe for partners in the global South.
