[okfn-za] Fwd: [OSGeo Africa] Fwd: [SDI-Africa] AfDB launches Open Data Platforms for 20 African countries

Thu Apr 4 06:17:16 UTC 2013

Thanks for the examples. They certainly highlight that data can be open and closed at the same time! 

The part where all of your examples come unstuck, I think, is the commercial (re)use of the data. People find it hard to accept the idea that someone else may profit from the originator’s labour. (This isn’t the case in all cultures, of course, and the history of Western copyright law shows that this kind of protection only dates back to the early 1800s when authors in the UK lobbied for the protection of their rights.) Of course, in all three cases, the restriction on commercial (or any other) use is flawed because while they may have invested time and effort, none of the organizations invested their own capital. The data was collected and analysed using public or donor funding. The reward for their effort is acknowledgement; they should not expect financial return or concern themselves whether others will derive financial benefit by using the data.

Francois

From: Adi Eyal [mailto:adi at burgercom.co.za] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 10:08 PM
To: Francois van Schalkwyk
Cc: Rufus Pollock; okfn-za at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [okfn-za] Fwd: [OSGeo Africa] Fwd: [SDI-Africa] AfDB launches Open Data Platforms for 20 African countries

On 3 April 2013 21:24, Francois van Schalkwyk <francois at compressdsl.com> wrote:

I use Open Data Commons : http://www.chet.org.za/data/sahe-open-data

Thanks for the link - there are some really nice datasets there. 

Is there sufficient awareness of Open Data Commons Licenses? http://opendatacommons.org/

It is doubtful that data owners know anything about openness of data. Here is the StatsSA data licence:

Data from this publication may be produced, applied or processed, provided Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specified that the application and/or analysis is the result of the users independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any processed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever without the prior permission of Stats SA. 

It boggles the mind that StatsSA imposes a copyright on public data and expressly forbids commercial use. There is nothing open about it. 

Maybe platforms such as the two below have a role to play in raising awareness about open common licenses which don’t necessary restrict the (re)use of data but at least make it clear how the data may be used?

The problem with data on africaopendata.org is that its legality is suspect. I have no idea whether I can re-post a copy of StatsSA data on another website or whether it is legal to scrape Parliament's website and publish the data elsewhere. 

Here is an extract from the terms of use on parliament.gov.za website

Usage and copyright
Users may view, copy, download to a local drive, print and distribute the content of this website, or any part thereof for informational or reference purposes only and for non-commercial purposes. All moral rights and any other rights of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa or other legal entity in respect of which content is contained on this site not expressly granted are reserved.

Intellectual property rights
All content, data and trademarks, including, but not limited to, software, technology, databases, know-how, text, graphics, icons, hyperlinks, private information, designs, program, publication, product, process, or idea described in this website may be the subject of other rights, including other intellectual property rights, which are the property of or licensed to the Parliament, or a legal entity, and as such are protected from infringement by South African legislation a

I know I can download and store the data - but am I allowed to scrape it? I'm certainly not allowed to do anything useful with it except to use it for reference material.

Finally - elections.org.za has this to say

Copyright Notice  

All of the work on this site including pages, documents and online images is protected by the copyright laws of the Republic of South Africa. The use of any material on this site for commercial purposes is a breach of copyright. Material may be retrieved and displayed, printed or reproduced in unaltered form only for personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. All other rights are reserved.

According to this, I'm in breach of copyright for the work that I did recently did on the contested wards because I processed it and the licence that I was given was to use it in unaltered form only and only for my personal use.

We're in pretty bad shape regarding data produced by the public sector. I'm not sure what the way forward is but I think that these licenses suggest that more than awareness raising is needed.

Francois

From: okfn-za-bounces at lists.okfn.org [mailto:okfn-za-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Adi Eyal
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 8:26 PM
To: Rufus Pollock
Cc: okfn-za at lists.okfn.org
Subject: Re: [okfn-za] Fwd: [OSGeo Africa] Fwd: [SDI-Africa] AfDB launches Open Data Platforms for 20 African countries

africaopendata.org is a good resource, certainly if you're looking for Kenyan data but the South African portal is doing pretty well too. I try to upload any datasets I get my hands on that are not obviously owned by someone. On that note, I find licensing to be a huge problem in South Africa. It's almost always unclear what I am allowed to do with data and what I'm not. Frustratingly, no-one seems to know. Any insights into how to tackle the issue?

Adi

On 3 April 2013 18:37, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:

Interesting to see and I've been super-impressed with progress of http://AfricaOpenData.org  (which is most certainly up for me :-) )

Rufus

On 3 April 2013 07:23, Adi Eyal <adi at burgercom.co.za> wrote:

Hi All

The African Development Bank has put together an open data portal for Africa. See the email below or for the lazy, click here: http://opendataforafrica.org. It's not very good at the moment with really light-weight World Bank type datasets and doesn't really hold a candle to our own http://www.africaopendata.org/ (which seems to be down at the moment) but it's good to see a higher level awareness of the importance of data. Over time, it may actually grow into a useful resource. 

Adi

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gavin Fleming <gavinjfleming at gmail.com>
Date: 3 April 2013 08:11
Subject: [OSGeo Africa] Fwd: [SDI-Africa] AfDB launches Open Data Platforms for 20 African countries
To: "chapter discussions, Africa" <africa at lists.osgeo.org>

interesting open data interface for SA http://southafrica.opendataforafrica.org/ and some other African countries

http://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/article/africas-information-highway-the-afdb-launches-open-data-platforms-for-20-african-countries-11604/
Africaâ€™s Information Highway - The AfDB launches Open Data Platforms for 20 African countries
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has launched Open Data Platforms for the following 20 African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Republic of Congo, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Open Data Platform program is part of the AfDBâ€™s recently launched â€œAfrica Information Highwayâ€  initiative aimed at significantly improving data management and dissemination in Africa. Work is on course to complete platforms for the rest of African countries by July 2013.

The Open Data Platform is a user-friendly tool for extracting data, creating and sharing own customized reports, and visualizing data across themes, sectors and countries in tables, charts and maps. Through the Open Data Platform, users can access a wide range of development data on African countries from multiple international and national official sources. The platform also facilitates the collection, analysis and sharing of data among countries and with international development partners. The platform offers a unique opportunity for various users, such as policymakers, analysts, researchers, business leaders and investors around the world, to gain access to reliable and timely data on Africa. Users can visualize time series development indicators over a period of time, perform comprehensive analysis at country and regional levels, utilize presentation-ready graphics or create their own, blog, and share their views and work with others, thereby creating an informed community of users.

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-- 
Adi Eyal
Data Specialist
phone: +27 78 014 2469 <tel:%2B27%2078%20014%202469> 
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal

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-- 
Adi Eyal
Data Specialist
phone: +27 78 014 2469 <tel:%2B27%2078%20014%202469> 
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal

-- 
Adi Eyal
Data Specialist
phone: +27 78 014 2469
skype: adieyalcas
linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal

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