[okfn-discuss] Defining open data - blog post

Fri Oct 4 12:50:23 UTC 2013

Latin's no longer taught much in UK schools so the current generation of
GB English speakers must be forgiven for ignoring Romantic declension
and conjugation. In the age of machine data [they are] [it's] largely
uncountable anyway and English is primarily understood by word-order so
I'm with the 'mass noun' contingent. To a contemporary native GB English
speaker, using a plural verb sounds very odd.

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Paula Graham
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On 04/10/13 01:23, Basili Carla wrote:
> 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”.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> okfn-discuss mailing list
>>>> okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-discuss [28]
>>>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-discuss [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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>
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