[euopendata] New UK government commitments to open data

[Javier Ruiz]

This is great news. Apparently this makes the UK the biggest Open Data
provider in the planet, according to the Guardian.

The announcement - for the first time here in UK - also brings in a new
situation regarding the publication of anonymised personal data, which is a
key line in terms of privacy. For example, in small schools the
anonymisation of grades can be difficult if you have one or two pupils in
the top or bottom performance bands. It will be interesting to start
checking in practice these issues.

The other issue to consider is the relation to open data to the wider
development of public services.

Again if we look at education, schools in UK are already subjected to
massive scrutiny and data related ranking. This has not solved the problems
of education, and many people argue that it has made them worse, as middle
class parents simply move home to another schools catchment
area, strengthening class segregation and driving bad schools further down.
Poor people cannot vote with their feet in school choice.

In general we can say that data without the mechanisms to improve the
situation can only increase frustration with public services, and possibly
manipulation of future data to fit expectations.

Then finally it is important to go back to the "effective use" issue raised
by Gurstein, and contextualisation of data, both of which are brought to the
fore in terms of school or hospital choice. The UK government has promised a
portal for schools, but many schools already boycott other
similar initiatives.

There is a lot to digest from this announcement in specific data areas.

If you are interested in the privacy aspects you can join the list

http://lists.openrightsgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/ogd-privacy

Javier



On 7 July 2011 10:59, Jonathan Gray <jonathan.gray at okfn.org> wrote:

> For anyone who hasn't been following #opendata or #openuk on Twitter,
> the UK government has made lots of new commitments to open data today!
>
> Links:
>
>
> http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2011/07/letter-to-cabinet-ministers-on-transparency-and-open-data-65383
>
> http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/government-publish-new-data-health-schools-courts-and-transport
>
> Some analysis from the Guardian:
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jul/07/government-transparency-data-releases
>
> --
> Jonathan Gray
>
> Community Coordinator
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://blog.okfn.org
>
> http://twitter.com/jwyg
> http://identi.ca/jwyg
>
> _______________________________________________
> euopendata mailing list
> euopendata at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/euopendata
>
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