[okfn-discuss] 4 Ideas for Defending the Open Data Commons by Simon Chignard

Mon Jan 14 18:32:39 UTC 2013

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 3:54 PM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>wrote:

> >
> > To me this puts a risk on app developers: If their (free) app becomes
> > popular - they are suddenly confronted with having to pay for using an
> API.
> > So I'd rather not go down that route.
>
> This is interesting point.
>
> I've frequently said that *charging for API access* to open data is
> fine (and possibly a very good idea) as long as the data is available
> in *bulk* for freely.

This is critical. I've had this myself - people want to dump my data and I
want them to dump it but it can be technically hard work.I have a million
web pages for http://wwmm.ch.cam.ac.uk/crystaleye.
* they are listed as Open Data.
* anyone can scrape the web pages. However there is no trivial iterator and
no list of pages
* we (jim)  built an RSS tool that downloaded chunk-by-chunk to make it
easier to  get better packaged data. But not everyonce can use RSS easily.

So I maintain that this is Open Data. It's possible but non-trivial to get
it.

Do I have to make it trivial for others. It will cost me money to pay
someone. (I will probably do this anyway).

If we put very high constraints on ease of download then people will be
unable to afford to make their data Open.

This is particularly true for data which is (a) dynamic (b) distributed.
The bioscience data is both of these. It's effectively open as anyone can
get chunks ate any time, but probably *couldn't* even be completely
compliant.

Is there a value in expression of intent here? In contractual terms I have
tried to carry out "best endeavour"

P.

Running an API is not non-rival and has
> considerable costs: it's provision of a service as much as provision
> of data (it's not so much the cost of pure reproduction as running the
> site, maintaining uptime, engineering the API structure etc ...).
>
> Note that the Open Definition does not disallow charging for API
> access - though if your data is *only* available via a pay for API
> then it is definitely *not* open.
>
> Rufus
>
> > Michael
> >
> > --
> > Data Wrangler with the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN.org)
> > GPG/PGP key: http://tentacleriot.eu/mihi.asc
> > Twitter: @mihi_tr Skype: mihi_tr
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > okfn-discuss mailing list
> > okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> > Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
>
>
>
> --
> Co-Founder, Open Knowledge Foundation
> Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age
> http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
> okfn-discuss mailing list
> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
>

-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/attachments/20130114/bd46fc54/attachment.html>