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Imagine walking past a fancy restaurant. The menu is posted in a glass case outside. Truffle pasta. Wagyu beef. You can see everything, read every description—but you can’t eat any of it. You’re just looking through glass.

That’s what most public data feels like online.

You find a website with exactly what you need. A map of power outages. A table of housing prices. It’s right there on the screen. But there’s no download button. No export. You can look, but you can’t take it home.

A 2022 study in Scientific Data found that over 60% of government datasets are “semi-open”—technically public, but locked behind technical barriers that only coders can break through. The data sits in an unlocked room, but the doorknob is a puzzle only an engineer can solve.

Until now.

Read also the story below

Get full access to Digital Digging with Henk van Ess at www.digitaldigging.org/subscribe45:T4f4,Welcome to Digital Digging, the podcast where AI and investigative research collide in what can only be described as a digital dumpster fire of possibilities. Hosted by Henk van Ess, a man who willingly handed his voice over to a machine (because why not?), we explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way we uncover, analyze, and inevitably freak out over information online. Each episode unpacks everything from spotting AI-generated texts—yes, AI trying to fool you—and uncovering global secrets using open-source intelligence, all while featuring two AI co-hosts, Castor and Pollux, because what’s a podcast without some virtual sidekicks? Think of them as the Alexa of bad advice, but with slightly more charm. We’ll cover the latest tools, mind-bending techniques, and possibly even a few ethical dilemmas—because AI isn’t going to raise them itself, is it? Whether you’re a journalist, a researcher, or just someone who fears the robot uprising but can’t look away, Digital Digging is your crash course on the brave, new, and slightly terrifying world of AI in investigations. Buckle

Episode 9: From hidden data to insight: the power of vibecoding