[ok-london-announce] My open data interests. OpenStreetMap and placr.co.uk

Mon Aug 1 15:48:09 UTC 2011

I could not attend the event but I am glad it went well.

I am particularly interested in the policy and rights aspects of Open Data,
and I have already spoken to Kat about doing our next meeting about the
Public Data Corporation in the OKFN London space.

Open Rights group is a campaigning and advocacy organisation, and we want to
contribute our skills to the open data networks. Most other organisations
are focused on practical developments instead, such as scraping data and
building apps, as the current situation is better in UK than elsewhere, but
we cannot be complacent.

There are many examples of changes needed, only today OpenCorporates.com
reminded us of the problems they face with commercial monopoly of company
referencing in the public sector via the DUNS numbering system.

I am also interested in widening the involvement of civil society in the
shaping of this policy field, particularly as we are now in a new level,
with the release of public services data in the last announcement from the
Cabinet Office. This could generate a backlash from unions and other groups
if they cannot see how this is going to improve public services, and the
exercise is seen simply as an excuse to promote the molecular privatisation
of public services.

The announcement by the Cabinet Office of the release of health and
education data also raises concerns about the privacy implications of open
data. We have been following this issue for some time, and for those
interested there is a low traffic international email list
http://lists.openrightsgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/ogd-privacy. So far in
truth there are more questions than clear answers, but advocates of openness
cannot fail to adress potential pitfalls, or others will do.

I am looking forward to meet you at the next occasion.

Javier

On 26 July 2011 11:47, Harry Wood <mail at harrywood.co.uk> wrote:

> I had a good time at the London OKFN meet-up last night. I can see lots of
> positive buzz on twitter too ( http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23opendataLDN)
> What things do we want to do as a follow up?  My feeling is, I didn't get
> chance to meet many people, so I thought I'd introduce myself here:
>
>  I'm interested in this stuff for two reasons:
>
> Firstly I want to build bridges with the OpenStreetMap community. This is
> the largest open data project to come out of the UK, but it doesn't always
> get the recognition it deserves. I think this is because it's entirely
> volunteer-driven, with a small not-for-profit organisation at its core, and
> no full-time employees, and so we haven't always managed to be very
> coordinated and organised with promotion. I've found myself in charge of
> running London OpenStreetMap events (@OSMLondon on twitter)  Perhaps
> OpenStreetMap can work with the Open Knowledge Foundation very directly in
> some way, but I'm sure we can also benefit from wider awareness and adoption
> by the open data community.
>
> Secondly I work for placr.co.uk  and we're passionate about open data.
> Jonathan Raper does a lot of campaigning, particularly within government,
> and has recently blogged with an overview of the UK's open data landscape,
> and how companies like placr can fit into it:
> http://placr.co.uk/blog/2011/07/the-growth-case-for-open-data/ As well as
> offering consulting services around using and releasing of open data, we're
> working with transport datasets to create a range of product offerings. Someof these are available to have a play with. See here:
> http://placr.co.uk/gallery/
>
> So my work and my hobby are both very open data oriented. I'm also a bit of
> a wikipedia fan. Basically I'm a bit open-obsessed. Feel free to drop me an
> email if you're interested in those things, but perhaps we can get some
> conversations going on this mailing list too.
>
> Harry Wood
> http://harrywood.co.uk
> @harry_wood on twitter
>
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>
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