[okfn-discuss] Open Service Definition (revisited)

[Rufus Pollock]

Hi Francis,

I've been meaning to write to okfn-discuss ever since I read your recent 
post on the blog 'We need an Open Service Definition':

http://blog.okfn.org/2007/07/18/we-need-an-open-service-definition/

It seems that parts of the Open Source community are really starting to 
get animated about this issue. As I mentioned in a comment on your post 
  we've been discussing for a while now -- in fact you yourself wrote to 
okfn-discuss back in last October in an email whose subject was 
precisely an 'Open Service Definition'[1].

[1]:http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2006-October/000177.html

Looking back over that thread, by the end  we had a draft definition 
along the lines of what I have included below. Does this look a good 
starting point? Who else should be be in contact with? (I've included 
Kragen Sitaker in cc).

Regards,

Rufus


Draft of an Open Service Definition
===================================

An open service is one:

   1. Whose data is open as defined by the open knowledge definition 
(http://opendefinition.org/) though with the exception that where the 
data is personal in nature the data need only be made available to the 
user (i.e. the owner of that account).
   2. Whose source code is F/OSS and *is made available*.

Remark: The OKD requires technological openness (i.e. provision in an 
open format)

Remark: The OKD also requires that data should be accessible in some 
machine automatable manner (e.g. through a standardized open API or via 
download from a standard specified location).