[okfn-discuss] 8 Principles of Open Government Data

Thu Dec 13 12:17:11 UTC 2007

I just came from a 2 day meeting on a very similar topic - open source
and open systems in govt. I'll try to remember to summarize it
when I get time but one additional principle worth remembering is ease of
interfacing with others. Open standards increase than functionality.
This is very important for govt where lots of systems have to interact
seemlessly to be efficient.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Dec 13, 2007 5:26 AM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:
> There's a request for comments up at:
>
>   <http://public.resource.org/8_principles.html>
>
> This came out of a recent meeting (from the blurb):
>
> "December 7-8, 2007—This weekend, 30 open government advocates gathered
> to develop a set of principles of open government data. The meeting,
> held in Sebastopol, California, was designed to develop a more robust
> understanding of why open government data is essential to democracy."
>
> I've included the 8 principles info below. This seems a great initiative
> and given the close similarity with the Open Knowledge/Data
> Definition[1] we should definitely get in contact with these guys and
> see both how we could participate in this particular instance and how we
> could collaborate in general.
>
> [1]: <http://opendefinition.org/1.0/>
>
> Looking specifically at the principles it seems that they are looking at
> something slightly wider -- what one might term *open government* as
> opposed to simply *open data*.
>
> Specifically items 5-8 (and maybe 4 too) would seem to be very similar
> to existing items in the OK/DD (though item 8 is stronger -- and also
> problematic for that reason: (e.g.) the UK government's click-use
> license is a license but is also open). Items 1-4, by contrast, are more
> about what government should make available and are therefore more about
> the general process of government rather than the openness of the data
> itself.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
>
>
> 8 Principles
> ============
>
>  From <http://public.resource.org/8_principles.html>
>
> Government data shall be considered open if it is made public in a way
> that complies with the principles below:
>
> 1. Complete
>      All public data is made available. Public data is data that is not
> subject to valid privacy, security or privilege limitations.
>
> 2. Primary
>      Data is as collected at the source, with the highest possible level
> of granularity, not in aggregate or modified forms.
>
> 3. Timely
>      Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the
> value of the data.
>
> 4. Accessible
>      Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest range
> of purposes.
>
> 5. Machine processable
>      Data is reasonably structured to allow automated processing.
>
> 6. Non-discriminatory
>      Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
>
> 7. Non-proprietary
>      Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive
> control.
>
> 8. License-free
>      Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark or trade
> secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security and privilege
> restrictions may be allowed.
>
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