[open-government] How to open up local government data

[Uhlir, Paul]

Good idea, Steven. This raises the issue of building on the pull rather than engineering a push.

Paul

________________________________________
From: Steven Clift [clift at e-democracy.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 9:43 AM
To: Tim Davies
Cc: Uhlir, Paul; open-government at lists.okfn.org; Simon Rogers
Subject: Re: [open-government] How to open up local government data

My suggestion is to focus in a coordinated way on the local data
everyday people really want - local crime data.

Get politicians/parties to promise near real-time access to crime data
when they are campaigning for election and build from there.


Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
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  New Tel: +1.612.234.7072



2010/7/8 Tim Davies <tim at timdavies.org.uk>:
> (apologies, I hit send on the last message too soon... extra 'strategies'
> bit in this version)
>
> On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 2:03 PM, Tim Davies <tim at timdavies.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Paul, Simon
>> Paul: I very much agree on the need for thought on strategies and tactics
>> to overcome some of the structural/cultural barriers to local open data.
>> Principles:
>> On Simon's principles, I wonder if they are strengthened by focussing on
>> '#2 as Make is Readable for Humans and Computers' rather than narrowing the
>> focus to 'machine readable'.
>> I'm not sure the claim "If developers can't build applications
>> and campaigners can't analyse it, what use is it?" holds up entirely. I'm
>> finding many use-cases of open data where data can't be easily turned into
>> applications or subjected to very clever analysis - but people are empowered
>> simply by being able to browse a Spreadsheet and find the specific fact
>> they've been asking a local authority for years.
>> In terms of principles for data release, emphasising the process of at
>> least the first three of the five-stars here is perhaps
>> best: http://inkdroid.org/journal/2010/06/04/the-5-stars-of-open-linked-data/
>> I.e.
>> ★ make your stuff available on the web (whatever format)
>> ★★ make it available as structured data (e.g. excel instead of image scan
>> of a table)
>> ★★★ non-proprietary format (e.g. csv instead of excel)
>>
>> Strategies:
>
>  In terms of strategies I wonder if there is also a useful 0.5 star point to
> encourage local authorities to look at:
> */2 - publish and keep updated a list of the data you know you have - even
> if you've not made it open yet - and provide an easy way for people to
> contact you to ask for it to be open.
> That would provide a way of better allowing the release of data to be driven
> by local demand...
> Tim
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