[okfn-discuss] Our vision: Why, How and What for the Open Knowledge Foundation

[Rufus Pollock]

2009/7/15 Richard Palmer <richard.d.palmer at kcl.ac.uk>:
> Dear list,
>
>> Five years on from the Foundation's start, now is a good time to have
>> a discussion of what the next 5 years (and beyond) of the Open
>> Knowledge Foundation should be.
>>
>> I've started some notes here: <http://wiki.okfn.org/Vision> and to get
>> the ball rolling here are some specific questions I'd love to hear
>> people's views on:
>>
>>   * What do you think the Open Knowledge Foundation is?
>
> As a newcomer to the OKFN (following Rufus's talk at OpenTech), I can give
> you my opinion, for what it's worth, after browsing through the various
> websites.

As a newcomer your opinion is probably the most useful of all :)

> The main site doesn't seem to mention 'why' open is so good in all cases (and
> do you really mean all cases?), and also why the OKFN needed to be setup.

Good point: one shouldn't exaggerate benefits (though someone we need
to aim for the moon just to reach the top of the hill ...)

> Perhaps a History page would be useful?. Some examples of how different
> open data sets have been re-used in projects might also be helpful
> (e.g. postcodes+openstreetmap+houseprices=mystreetprices or similiar)

OK so: a) better why openness matters b) history/background to the
Foundation c) exemplars -- we do have a blog category for this
(http://blog.okfn.org/taxonomy/exemplars) but I think we want a few
nice examples.

> Also, is the OKFNs role only to promote open data or does it want to become an
> archive as well?. For example, with the storage grid, will the OKFN be
> maintaining the data in the grid, migrating formats as they become
> obsolete, etc.

We're definitely there not only to promote openness but also to create
open material ourselves as well as provide tools and services to
assist in producing and creating such material. Coordinating a storage
grid for open data falls clearly within that remit though whether that
would include an effort to preserve and migrate archival material is a
different (and much more specific) question!

Rufus