[open-government] How to open up local government data

Thu Jul 8 15:48:38 BST 2010

Hello

On the topic of local authority licensing, we did some research a few months back looking at UK local authority copyright policies (http://ow.ly/28GsN).  This was aimed primarily at overall website policies to compare like with like, and was completed before the latest round of open data sites opened, so doesn’t fully take account of open data (or other) sub-sites.  If anyone is interested I have an xml dump of the data.  Thanks.

Best regards

Matthew Pearce
Standards Adviser

The National Archives
5th Floor, Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ

T: 02033345261

From: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Tim Davies
Sent: 08 July 2010 15:18
To: CountCulture
Cc: open-government at lists.okfn.org; SimonRogers
Subject: Re: [open-government] How to open up local government data

Hey Chris

The Open Data Scoreboard focus on the license is definitely the key one for now I would think: as license is an issue distinct from format.

The 'stars' as it were will tend to be on a dataset-by-dataset basis. E.g. an authority may have one dataset as linked data, and one only available in Excel.

It might be useful though for authorities to think about asking authorities to be clear with particular datasets when they are 'working towards' further stars, of when, at present, no such plans exist...

Tim

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM, CountCulture <countculture at gmail.com<mailto:countculture at gmail.com>> wrote:
I've been looking at a similar star rating for the Open Data Scoreboard (http://OpenlyLocal.com/councils/open) but think it makes more sense when we've got a decent number (say 50) publishing data with an open licence.
Chris
-----------
OpenlyLocal :: Making Local Government More Transparent
http://openlylocal.com
Blog: http://countculture.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CountCulture

On 8 Jul 2010, at 14:03, Tim Davies <tim at timdavies.org.uk<mailto:tim at timdavies.org.uk>> wrote:
Paul, Simon

Paul: I very much agree on the need for thought on strategies and tactics to overcome some of the structural/cultural barriers to local open data.

Principles:
On Simon's principles, I wonder if they are strengthened by focussing on '#2 as Make is Readable for Humans and Computers' rather than narrowing the focus to 'machine readable'.

I'm not sure the claim "If developers can't build applications and campaigners can't analyse it, what use is it?" holds up entirely. I'm finding many use-cases of open data where data can't be easily turned into applications or subjected to very clever analysis - but people are empowered simply by being able to browse a Spreadsheet and find the specific fact they've been asking a local authority for years.

In terms of principles for data release, emphasising the process of at least the first three of the five-stars here is perhaps best: http://inkdroid.org/journal/2010/06/04/the-5-stars-of-open-linked-data/

I.e.

★ make your stuff available on the web (whatever format)
★★ make it available as structured data (e.g. excel instead of image scan of a table)
★★★ non-proprietary format (e.g. csv instead of excel)

Strategies:

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 8:37 PM, Uhlir, Paul <PUhlir at nas.edu<mailto:PUhlir at nas.edu>> wrote:
I fully support these principles, but the soft infrastructure barriers and costs to realizing them are formidable. The principles identify the what, but not the how. Impementable strategies and tactics on how to get there are very much needed.

Paul

________________________________________
From: open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org> [open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-government-bounces at lists.okfn.org>] On Behalf Of Jonathan Gray [jonathan.gray at okfn.org<mailto:jonathan.gray at okfn.org>]
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 2:55 PM
To: open-government at lists.okfn.org<mailto:open-government at lists.okfn.org>
Cc: Simon Rogers
Subject: [open-government] How to open up local government data

Pasted below are some ideas on how to open up local government data
from Simon Rogers at the Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jul/07/local-government-data

Simon: can we cross post these on the OKF blog?

All the best,

Jonathan

## 1. Make it open

No T&Cs about not using the data for commercial use, no restrictions
on access. Make the data available to anyone to do whatever they want
to with it. That's the only way that the data information revolution
is going to work.

## 2. Make it readable for computers

The data needs to be in a format that any computer can use - no more
PDFs, thank you very much. If developers can't build applications and
campaigners can't analyse it, what use is it?

## 3. Make it granular

The days when we only wanted official statisticians to just put the
numbers together in a way we could understand are gone. Now we also
want the full, disaggregated data too. It's the only way it will ever
be useful for someone wanting to gather the true local picture of
local spending. Let us worry about whether the dataset is too big or
not. It's not your problem anymore.

## 4. Make it quick

Just get the stuff out there. We'd rather have it as it is - and then
get it revised later than have to wait months for it to be finalised.
The government has provided express permission for local authorities
to do this. So just do it.

## 5. Make it easy to find

There's no point hiding this stuff away. If we can't find it, it may
as well not exist. It should be easy to discover and simple to access.

--
Jonathan Gray

Community Coordinator
The Open Knowledge Foundation
http://blog.okfn.org

http://twitter.com/jwyg
http://identi.ca/jwyg

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@timdavies

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http://www.timdavies.org.uk
07834 856 303.
@timdavies

Co-director of Practical Participation: http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk
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Practical Participation Ltd is a registered company in England and Wales - #5381958.

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