[okfn-discuss] Defining open data - blog post

Fri Oct 4 00:23:03 UTC 2013

The latin term "data" is the plural of the latin  term "datum" and 
therefore the verb should be used accordingly. While this is quite clear 
in Italian, I don't know if it can help with English.

Carla Basili

Il 2013-10-04 01:03 Aaron Wolf ha scritto:
> Found via DuckDuckGo:
>
> 
> http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/16/data-plural-singular 
> [30]
>
> But in _this_ case it is more clearly "is" in terms of the way we're
> using "data" in the definition. It's a mass noun like "software" not
> "softwares" but clearly there's debate.
>
> I agree the simple one-sentence definition is good
>
> --
> Aaron Wolf
> wolftune.com [31]
>
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 3:30 PM, Gene Shackman <eval_gene at yahoo.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> "Open data is data that can be freely used, shared and built-on by 
>> anyone, anywhere for any purpose."
>>
>>  
>> This says it all. This is the best definition, it is clear and easy 
>> to understand. Everything else is just details.
>>
>> All the stuff about how the data should be available (e.g., machine 
>> readable, human readable, should have clear dictionaries, etc), where 
>> it should be, who should present it, how much of it should be 
>> available, etc., all that stuff is detail.
>>
>> Any documents about open/free/libre data should start with this 
>> simple, clear, short statement.
>>
>> Just one comment. Should it be "Open data are" rather than "Open 
>> data is"? Let's see, "the open internet is" but "free websites are"
>>
>> Gene
>>
>> -------------------------
>> FROM: Luis Villa <luis at lu.is>
>> TO: Open Knowledge Foundation discussion list 
>> <okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org>
>> SENT: Thursday, October 3, 2013 11:29 AM
>> SUBJECT: Re: [okfn-discuss] Defining open data - blog post
>>
>> Nifty. Anything in particular motivate this now?
>>
>> Luis
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 7:17 AM, Laura James <laura.james at okfn.org> 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> ALL, 
>>>
>>> WE JUST POSTED ABOUT "DEFINING OPEN DATA" ON THE OPEN KNOWLEDGE 
>>> FOUNDATION BLOG - SETTING OUT A CLEAR AND ACCESSIBLE EXPLANATION 
>>> (HOPEFULLY!).  THERE WILL BE MORE POSTS ABOUT THE OPEN DEFINITION AND 
>>> HOW IT RELATES TO OTHER OPEN PRINCIPLES IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.
>>>
>>> http://blog.okfn.org/2013/10/03/defining-open-data/ [1]
>>>
>>> Laura
>>>
>>> OPEN DATA IS DATA THAT CAN BE FREELY USED, SHARED AND BUILT-ON BY 
>>> ANYONE, ANYWHERE FOR ANY PURPOSE. This is the summary of the full 
>>> Open Definition [2] which the Open Knowledge Foundation [3] created 
>>> in 2005 to provide both a succinct explanation and a detailed 
>>> definition of open data [4].
>>> As the open data movement grows, and even more governments and 
>>> organisations sign up to open data, it becomes ever more IMPORTANT 
>>> THAT THERE IS A CLEAR AND AGREED DEFINITION for what “open data” 
>>> means if we are to realise the full benefits of openness, and avoid 
>>> the risks of creating incompatibility between projects and 
>>> splintering the community.
>>> _
>>> Open_ can apply to information from any source and about any topic. 
>>> Anyone can release their data under an open licence for free use by 
>>> and benefit to the public. Although we may think mostly about 
>>> government and public sector bodies releasing public information such 
>>> as budgets or maps, or researchers sharing their results data and 
>>> publications, any organisation can open information (corporations, 
>>> universities, NGOs, startups, charities, community groups and 
>>> individuals).
>>> There is open information in transport [5], science [6], products 
>>> [7], education [8], sustainability [9], maps [10], legislation 
>>> [11], libraries [12], economics [13], culture [14], development 
>>> [15], business [16], design [17], finance [18] …. So the explanation 
>>> of what open means applies to all of these information sources and 
>>> types. Open may also apply both to data – big data and small data 
>>> [19] – or to content, like images, text and music!
>>> _
>>> So here we set out clearly what open means, and why this agreed 
>>> definition is vital for us to collaborate, share and scale as open 
>>> data and open content grow and reach new communities.
>>>
>>> WHAT IS OPEN?
>>>
>>> The full Open Definition [2] provides a precise definition of what 
>>> open data is. There are 2 important elements to openness:
>>>
>>> * LEGAL OPENNESS: you must be allowed to get the data legally, to 
>>> build on it, and to share it. Legal openness is usually provided by 
>>> applying an appropriate (open) license [20] which allows for free 
>>> access to and reuse of the data, or by placing data into the public 
>>> domain.
>>> * TECHNICAL OPENNESS: there should be no technical barriers to 
>>> using that data. For example, providing data as printouts on paper 
>>> (or as tables in PDF documents) makes the information extremely 
>>> difficult to work with. So the Open Definition has various 
>>> requirements for “technical openness,” such as requiring that data be 
>>> machine readable and available in bulk.
>>>
>>> There are a few key aspects of open_ which the Open Definition 
>>> [21] explains in detail. Open Data is useable by anyone, regardless 
>>> of who they are, where they are, or what they want to do with the 
>>> data; there must be no restriction on who can use it, and commercial 
>>> use is fine too.
>>> Open data must be available in bulk (so it’s easy to work with) and 
>>> it should be available free of charge, or at least at no more than a 
>>> reasonable reproduction cost. The information should be digital, 
>>> preferably available by downloading through the internet, and easily 
>>> processed by a computer too (otherwise users can’t fully exploit the 
>>> power of data – that it can be combined together to create new 
>>> insights).
>>> Open Data must permit people to use it, re-use it, and redistribute 
>>> it, including intermixing with other datasets and distributing the 
>>> results.
>>> The Open Definition [21] generally doesn’t allow conditions to be 
>>> placed on how people can use Open Data, but it does permit a data 
>>> provider to require that data users credit them in some appropriate 
>>> way, make it clear if the data has been changed, or that any new 
>>> datasets created using their data are also shared as open data.
>>> There are 3 important principles behind this definition of _open_, 
>>> which are why Open Data is so powerful:
>>>
>>> * AVAILABILITY AND ACCESS: that people can get the data
>>> * RE-USE AND REDISTRIBUTION: that people can reuse and share the 
>>> data
>>> * UNIVERSAL PARTICIPATION: that anyone can use the data
>>>
>>> GOVERNANCE OF THE OPEN DEFINITION
>>>
>>> Since 2007, the Open Definition has been governed by an Advisory 
>>> Council [22]. This is the group formally responsible for maintaining 
>>> and developing the Definition and associated material. Its mission is 
>>> to take forward Open Definition work for the general benefit of the 
>>> open knowledge community, and it has specific responsibility for 
>>> deciding on what licences comply with the Open Definition.
>>> The Council is a community-run body. New members of the Council can 
>>> be appointed at any time by agreement of the existing members of the 
>>> Advisory Council, and are selected for demonstrated knowledge and 
>>> competence in the areas of work of the Council.
>>> The Advisory Council operates in the open and anyone can join the 
>>> mailing list [23].
>>>
>>> ABOUT THE OPEN DEFINITION
>>>
>>> The Open Definition [2] was created in 2005 by the Open Knowledge 
>>> Foundation with input from many people. The Definition was based 
>>> directly on the Open Source Definition [24] from the Open Source 
>>> Initiative [25] and we were able to reuse most of these 
>>> well-established principles and practices that the free and open 
>>> source community had developed for software, and apply them to data 
>>> and content.
>>> Thanks to the efforts of many translators in the community, 
>>> the Open Definition is available in 30+ languages [2].
>>>
>>> MORE ABOUT OPENNESS COMING SOON
>>>
>>> In coming days we’ll post more on the theme of explaining openness, 
>>> including a more detailed exploration of the Open Definition, the 
>>> relationship of the Open Definition to specific sets of principles 
>>> for openness – such as the Sunlight Foundation’s 10 principles 
>>> [26] and Tim Berners-Lee’s 5 star system [27], why having a shared 
>>> and agreed definition of open data is so important, and how one can 
>>> go about “doing open data”.
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss [28]
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>>> [29]
>>
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>
>
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://blog.okfn.org/2013/10/03/defining-open-data/
> [2] http://opendefinition.org/okd/
> [3] http://okfn.org/
> [4] http://okfn.org/opendata
> [5] http://transport.okfn.org/
> [6] http://science.okfn.org/
> [7] http://product-open-data.com/
> [8] http://education.okfn.org/
> [9] http://sustainability.okfn.org/
> [10] http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/51.500/-0.100
> [11] http://legislation.okfn.org/
> [12] http://openbiblio.net/principles/
> [13] http://openeconomics.net/
> [14] http://openglam.org/
> [15] http://open-development.okfn.org/
> [16] http://opencorporates.com/
> [17] http://design.okfn.org/
> [18] http://openspending.org/
> [19]
> 
> http://blog.okfn.org/2013/04/22/forget-big-data-small-data-is-the-real-revolution/
> [20] http://opendefinition.org/licenses/
> [21] http://opendefinition.org/okd
> [22] http://opendefinition.org/advisory-council/
> [23] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/od-discuss
> [24] http://opensource.org/osd-annotated
> [25] http://opensource.org/
> [26] 
> http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/documents/ten-open-data-principles/
> [27] http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
> [28] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss
> [29] http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss
> [30] 
> http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/16/data-plural-singular
> [31] http://wolftune.com/
>
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