[open-government] Plans for http://opengovernmentdata.org/?

Wed Mar 30 14:45:00 BST 2011

Hi all,

Just to let you know Daniel and I have started a sprint to improve the
opengovernmentdata.org website. We are putting notes on this here:

  http://opengovernmentdata.okfnpad.org/website

We are hopefully doing a burst on this ('phase 1' on pad) later today,
and Daniel will be continuing to work on this on Thursday and Friday.

Rather than having a call (which may be difficult to schedule quickly)
- if anyone has any suggestions for things to add, please add them to
the pad ASAP!

All the best,

Jonathan

2011/3/25 Ton Zijlstra <ton.zijlstra at gmail.com>:
> Hi Daniel, all,
>>re google calendar
> Yes I would prefer a calendar everyone has access to more easily for editing
> than is possible through G-Calendar. Had a look at grical, while promising
> it's kind of techie, and ultimately you want something that is easy to
> understand from the users perspective. Not sure if grical already lives up
> to that. So yes, editing the G-Calendar is clumsy (although one can imagine
> creating a general login and making that public, or at least for a group
> e.g.), I just don't have a real alternative right now.
>>> At ourdata.eu I for instance do not intend to explain what OGD is, what
>>> tools etc are available, just a site with examples of what is happening in
>>> Europe. So I can go to my gov, and you to yours saying 'why are we not doing
>>> what is already common in [[other country here]]?'
>>> Also ourdata.eu is not meant to list data sources etc.
>
>>This is great but offers little flexibility of how do add / edit and
>> display the information. Finally the information could and >should be
>> synchronised or synchronisable between differnd site that *do augment each
>> other*. I am just unhappy with the >way information can be added, edited and
>> displayed.
>
> Let me be clear that I regard ourdata.eu as a 'personal' website mostly, not
> so much as a 'group' effort. I envisioned it that way in 2009, but I think
> with the current scope (examples of re-use and initiatives) it fits my own
> activities best as a personal site. That doesn't mean it needs to be that,
> but that's the current starting point of my thinking. I am also very tempted
> to keep that scope small as it is, to prevent me from trying to turn it into
> e.g. epsiplatform.eu or opengovernmentdata.org.
> That being said, I am perfectly fine with other people adding content, or
> re-using content elsewhere. Having other people in the (Drupal) site as
> editors is I think again not the most easy way to do it (accounts, who's in,
> who's not?). So I have created a few scripts that can import rss feeds as
> nodes into the site. It shapes the content to match the site set-up, and
> detects double entries etc before importing. The key to adding content then
> is in what feeds and with what type of tagging I put into the import script.
> (I created the scripts to be able to import my bookmark collection for
> instance, using a specific tag to make sure I have the 'right' bookmarks)
> This would allow me to import content from any augmenting site we think is
> useful for it.
> As to re-using content from ourdata.eu elsewhere. We could go a similar
> route, providing specific feeds for other sites to import as content, or by
> running a script or two that e.g. allow opengovernmentdata.org access to the
> database.
> In any case, I don't see the necessity of using the CMS to do that, and
> assume we'll do everything through the 'back door'.
>>> FYI, at epsiplatform.eu there will be a growing list of sources and
>>> especially people involved in OGD in various European countries, next to the
>>> current news and reports etc. So maybe it's good to see if and how all three
>>> sites can augment each other.
>
>>Agree. Lets try the best to coordinate this. So I would like to
>> re-emphasise Jonathan's call
> Yes, I'll be available for a call.
> best,
> Ton
> -------------------------------------------
> Interdependent Thoughts
> Ton Zijlstra
>
> ton at tonzijlstra.eu
> +31-6-34489360
>
> http://zylstra.org/blog
> -------------------------------------------
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 6:04 PM, Daniel Dietrich <daniel.dietrich at okfn.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Ton,
>>
>> On 22.03.2011, at 14:01, Ton Zijlstra wrote:
>>
>> > Daniel, all,
>> >
>> > A calendar with OGD activities exists (see ourdata.eu front page) which
>> > Daniel has access to. We are also using this calendar for epsiplatform.eu
>> > As to examples of reuse, gov initiatives I am currently rebuilding
>> > ourdata.eu to automatically showcase my 400+ bookmark collection on that.
>>
>> www.ourdata.eu is a great service, part of it is this Google Calendar
>> which is the best resource for OGD events in the Eu that I am aware of. I
>> just have my doubt that a service like google Calendar, where you have to
>> grant permissions every time to individual contributors really is the future
>> for decentralised cooperative tracking of events. GriCal goes in the
>> direction of an open service that might suite our needs better.
>> http://grical.org/
>>
>> >
>> > It'd be good if we can find a way for both sites to augment each other.
>>
>> Absolutely! This is part of the challenge: to join forces, augment each
>> other and not re-invent the wheel.
>>
>> > At ourdata.eu I for instance do not intend to explain what OGD is, what
>> > tools etc are available, just a site with examples of what is happening in
>> > Europe. So I can go to my gov, and you to yours saying 'why are we not doing
>> > what is already common in [[other country here]]?'
>> > Also ourdata.eu is not meant to list data sources etc.
>>
>> This is great but offers little flexibility of how do add / edit and
>> display the information. Finally the information could and should be
>> synchronised or synchronisable between differnd site that *do augment each
>> other*. I am just unhappy with the way information can be added, edited and
>> displayed.
>>
>> > FYI, at epsiplatform.eu there will be a growing list of sources and
>> > especially people involved in OGD in various European countries, next to the
>> > current news and reports etc. So maybe it's good to see if and how all three
>> > sites can augment each other.
>>
>> Agree. Lets try the best to coordinate this. So I would like to
>> re-emphasise Jonathan's call
>>
>> >> Anyone up for a virtual get together next week (e.g. Monday evening,
>> >> Tuesday or Wednesday) to have a go at getting this ship shape? ;-)
>>
>>
>> I am up for this and would propose next Monday, Mach 28th evening about
>> 6pm CET or shall we poll via doodle?
>>
>> Best Regards
>> Daniel
>>
>>
>> >
>> > best,
>> >
>> > Ton
>> > -------------------------------------------
>> > Interdependent Thoughts
>> > Ton Zijlstra
>> >
>> > ton at tonzijlstra.eu
>> > +31-6-34489360
>> >
>> > http://zylstra.org/blog
>> > -------------------------------------------
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Daniel Dietrich
>> > <daniel.dietrich at okfn.org> wrote:
>> > Dear Jonathan, all,
>> >
>> > I agree that this is of high priority and we can make some improvements
>> > very quickly. I can spend one day on it later this week.
>> >
>> > On 21.03.2011, at 16:11, Jonathan Gray wrote:
>> >
>> > > I would say that this is a high priority right now - so people have a
>> > > clearer landing page that:
>> > >
>> > >  *explains what open government data is and why it is interesting
>> > >  * links to the open government data bibliography [1] (an update on
>> > > this soon)
>> > >  * links to opendatasearch.org
>> > >  * links to lists of catalogues/competitions etc (these need
>> > > updating!)
>> > >  * map showing open government data initiatives around the world
>> > >  * list showing upcoming events (can we use an external service for
>> > > this and pull in via RSS?)
>> > >  * list showing open government data related news
>> > >  * pull in #opendata Twitter stream
>> > >  * etc
>> >
>> > In addition to this we also need to think about the tool / technology.
>> > It is very clear that for the Open Government Data mapping project we want
>> > to collect information about
>> >
>> > * OGD initiatives
>> > * OGD Events
>> > * OGD competitions
>> > * OGD catalogues
>> >
>> > And we need this information accessible in different ways, such as:
>> >
>> > * single item (url)
>> > * list of items
>> > * on a map (geo)
>> > * in a calendar (time)
>> > * syndicated (rss)
>> >
>> > Please see http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/government/mapping for more details
>> >
>> > Right now we use google docs google calendar and hand made KML files
>> > witch is very inefficient (apart from being using non open services like
>> > Google)
>> >
>> > I am looking at http://grical.org/ its open source and python. We have
>> > allready been in contact with the developer Ivan Villanueva.
>> >
>> > GriCal allows users to add "events" that can have different views like
>> > cal, list and map organised by user or by tags
>> >
>> > I would like to explore how we tweak grical to use it a the tool for
>> > decentralised OGD mapping. The events, initiatives, organisations could -
>> > once added to grical be include as item, list, calendar or map using iframe
>> > or the like into the Wordpress installation.
>> >
>> > What do people think?
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > Daniel
>> >
>> > >
>> > > Anyone up for having a bit of a hack session on this in next few
>> > > weeks?
>> >
>> > count me in
>> >
>> > >
>> > > All the best,
>> > >
>> > > Jonathan
>> > >
>> > > [1]
>> > > http://ideas.okfn.org/ideas/54/open-government-data-bibliography-project
>> > >
>> > > On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 3:48 PM, Daniel Dietrich
>> > > <daniel.dietrich at okfn.org> wrote:
>> > >> Hi Tim,
>> > >>
>> > >> Thanks for bringing this up again!
>> > >>
>> > >> On 19.03.2011, at 23:26, Tim McNamara wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >>> Are there any plans for http://opengovernmentdata.org/? I think the
>> > >>> domain could be re-purposed from highlighting the events of last November to
>> > >>> something more generic.
>> > >>
>> > >> Absolutely this has been the plan for quite a wile now, wee:
>> > >>
>> > >>        http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/government/mapping
>> > >>
>> > >>>
>> > >>> Some things we could include:
>> > >>>
>> > >>>  - links to and/org excerpts of academic paper & grey literature
>> > >>>  - case studies
>> > >>>  - contact people
>> > >>>  - introduction to some of the technical tools (cf
>> > >>> opendatamanual.org)
>> > >>
>> > >> all of these are very good points and should definitely find its way
>> > >> to the wiki / website
>> > >>
>> > >> @Tim: would you bee happy to take an more active role in getting this
>> > >> done?
>> > >>
>> > >> I am also looking to free some of my time to focus more on this.
>> > >>
>> > >> Best greetings
>> > >> Daniel
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>> Tim McNamara
>> > >>> @timClicks
>> > >>> _______________________________________________
>> > >>> open-government mailing list
>> > >>> open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > >>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> _______________________________________________
>> > >> open-government mailing list
>> > >> open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > >> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> > >>
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Jonathan Gray
>> > >
>> > > Community Coordinator
>> > > The Open Knowledge Foundation
>> > > http://blog.okfn.org
>> > >
>> > > http://twitter.com/jwyg
>> > > http://identi.ca/jwyg
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > open-government mailing list
>> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
>> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>> >
>>
>
>
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>
>

-- 
Jonathan Gray

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

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