[open-development] OECD Development Assistance Committee Open Data?

Wed Feb 2 11:31:17 UTC 2011

Tim,

You are right that the DAC codes lists are in a mix of formats. I am not
sure what their plans are for open format publishing of such lists and their
history.

However, for IATI purposes, you would do best to visit
http://iatistandard.org/ where we have pulled in links to all the current
versions of the DAC (and other) codes that are in the IATI standard. I think
this is a probably a better source than AidData, who also have to get their
lists second-hand from the DAC (but Jess can correct me if necessary). 

Working on the history of the lists is less easy, as revisions tend to be
made by the relevant DAC working party and published in PDF. The exception
is the DAC Aid recipients list, for which there is a complete history on the
DAC website (www.oecd.org/dac/stats) which also provides access to their
online data.

I will be seeing DAC colleagues next week and will ask about any plans for a
more accessible update and history of codes. This is something that I have
also been discussing with them on behalf of AidData. So please include me on
the list for further exchanges on this topic. 

Regards, Brian

From: Karin Christiansen [mailto:karin.christiansen at publishwhatyoufund.org] 
Sent: 02 February 2011 11:08
To: Tim Davies; open-development at lists.okfn.org; Jessica Sloan;
brian.w.hammond at btinternet.com
Subject: RE: [open-development] OECD Development Assistance Committee Open
Data?

Hi Tim, OCED are struggling a bit on open data licensing I think (but there
might be others on this list more up to date).  

Am copying in Brian Hammond just in case he isn't on this list.

However in terms of the code lists, Jessica Sloan, from AidData, basically
have all lists from their work and will surely be able to help.

Karin

From: open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:open-development-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of Tim Davies
Sent: 02 February 2011 9:10 AM
To: open-development at lists.okfn.org
Subject: [open-development] OECD Development Assistance Committee Open Data?

Hey all 

I'm working on a demonstrator tool to explore some of the recently released
DFID IATI (International Aid Transparency Initiative) data - and the IATI
data makes a lot of use of code lists, particularly from OECD's Development
Assistance Committee (http://oecd.org/dac/). 

As far as I can tell (and from asking others who have been working to create
the DFID data), the code lists (for Rio Markers; Sector Codes etc.) are not
published by OECD in any easily open form - instead being scattered across
spreadsheets, word documents and PDFs, with somewhat confusing revision
histories (hard to work out if you're working with the most recent version).

OECD also have a significant library of aid data. 

Is anyone aware of initiatives in OECD / DAC on open data? Or at least
exposing data in more consistent and structured ways? 

It strikes me that for open development data initiatives - having a stable
maintained place for DAC code lists etc - could be pretty useful...

Tim

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